Rope

Mr. Clay requested that I watch and review this. We meet a young man, driving to some woods. Once there, he begins to fix up a noose. It is evident that he means to end his life. Suddenly, a seemingly stray dog and he notice each other. Perhaps they even recognize something in one another. Does it take one lost individual to rescue another? This does not supply a final answer. It is ambiguous from start to finish, as it explores the theme of hope in the face of loss. Throughout all of this, we hear the lead's(the only person in front of the camera) monologue. It is disjointed, confusing. He repeats the words "rope, suit, park, hang", over and over. Not because they hold some special, secret meaning... because he knows that if he hesitates in this act of ultimate self-destruction, he may not complete it. And he can't currently imagine wanting to go on. We never determine exactly what has happened... there is a distinct hint, involving the woman of his life. He universalizes his pain. "When they call you... and they *will*...". It is clear that not only does he not feel like there is anything left, he believes that it is a matter of time before we all will. He is at the end, or so he has convinced himself. The acting is impeccable. I am stunned by the scope of the human emotion displayed not only by Jason Britt, no, also by the canine. The sedated score is fitting. This isn't about plot, it's a portrait of a certain state of mind, and as such, it is spot-on. Some will find this to be depressing. I will say that you must look beyond the situation we are witnessing. The message does not hit the viewer over the head. This is filmed and edited brilliantly. Very low-key, and about the mood conveyed. This is currently online, available for free, and I would definitely say that you should spend the four minutes on it if this sounds appealing to you. There is disturbing content in this. I recommend this to everyone who likes psychological shorts. 9/10

Like the best short stories, the best short films are compact, compelling and open-ended. "Rope" - at a tight four minutes - is one such film.

Writer/director Ian Clay makes great use of voice-over narration to bring the audience inside the fractured and troubled internal monologue of a man planning to hang himself. Polished editing and sound design techniques (reminiscent of early Nolan films) highlight the story. There's a bit of mystery (a reference to a girl...and an accident perhaps?) and a surprising visit by a dog in the end...leaving us to wonder...will he or won't he?

For a short film done on the cheap, "Rope" has solid production values and leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

I watched New York I Love You the other night and Rope was the next film I came to. Rope may be a short film but then in fairness NY I Love You is just a series of vignettes so in principle just lots of short films. The full film was so pretentious that it soured by view slightly and when I came to Rope, the style and narration made me think "here we go again – more supposed depth and complexity thrust upon me with no basis". Credit then to Rope that what I was waiting for never came because it never felt pretentious or unnatural.

This is despite the nature of the narration being arch and the rhythm of it being typically "short film" rather than traditional narrative of feature films. However it makes everything clear to the viewer and it does it really well. The words tell us what happened to the young man in the park, what it did to him emotionally and why he has come to this place. It does this by adding to the determined mantra that he is saying to himself in ways that make things clear with minimal fuss. The performance from the lone actor also does the job. Without words he could have hammed it up or overplayed every little thing but he generally doesn't do this and, importantly, he is convincingly natural – I didn't think I was watching someone act so much as watching the character, which is how it should be.

The direction is good. The shot selection and framing is clever and inventive but not to the point where it becomes the film. It can be tempting with shorts to use them as a showcase (which of course they are) and I have seen films that have been detracted from because of the director wanting to show their stuff visually in a way that really doesn't benefit the specific film at that time. Clay doesn't do that – although I did like the look of the film throughout. Rope is a strong little short film. It has a serious subject and it delivers its personal situation very well, keeping us engaged and close to the character and letting us understand him without being pretentious or spoon-feeding the viewer. Well worth a look.

It's of course incredibly hard to really tell a story in a short that only lasts 4 minutes. It's important to have a real strong concept and premise but before you can get things developed you also need to wrap up things again. In other words, it's often harder to come up with a good short than actually one that lasts between 10 and 30 minutes, or so.

Having a good and above all an original idea and approach is already half the work. And I feel that this movie picked a good approach to things. This movie is certainly an unique and good watch, due to its approach. It's a visually strong movie, that only features narration and no actual dialog. There's even only just one character in the entire movie, not counting in the dog. It has narration throughout its entire movie but it are still the images that tell most of the story.

And it's a real good thing that this film has visuals that speak for themselves, fore the story itself isn't really self explanatory, at least not in the way it gets handled in this movie. It's a quite heavy-handed subject and story, that gets told rather confusingly and just in parts. I do know this was intentionally, since the story gets told from the mind of our protagonist, who is obviously confused, full with emotions and thoughts and is about to end to his life but that doesn't really make this movie that pleasant to follow, due to its storytelling. You can also perhaps say that its being a bit too grim. But this can only be a complaint for some of its viewers. It's just a personal thing for everyone that is not saying anything about any of its artistic and film-making qualities, since this was something intentional.

Seems a bit odd though that for a movie in which the narration plays such an important role they couldn't get some better equipment, or studio, for the recording of its dialog. It just sounds a bit muffled. The music on the other hand sounded great and the musical score fitted the movie real nice.

Perhaps you can say, that at least to me, I liked this short more for its style than its actual substance but for those who like to read a bit more into movies and get into really get into a characters mind, this is simply a great movie.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

A young man, mechanically repeating the mantra "rope, suit, park, hang" embarks on a journey to a wooded area with the intention of ending his life. Although there is no clear indication of what the circumstances may have been that led him to this moment, he does explain that his wife's car is in pieces. "She's in pieces," he says. His concentration is broken, however, by the appearance of a dog. The dog, a recent rescue from a Los Angeles shelter, may or may not thwart his intention but is enough to halt his obsessive dialogue.

Backed by an outstanding score by Jose Villalobos who also worked on the score for "The Kite Runner", Rope is directed by Ian Clay and aided by a standout performance by Jason Britt and stunning cinematography inspired by Wong Kar-wai. This short four-minute film is haunting, though-provoking, filled with mystery and humanity and is a remarkable achievement.