Cherry Waves

This short film was very moving, provoking and engaging. it was not a feel good film, but at the same time I felt a level of passion that was fun to feel. Passion for standing up in what you believe and being willing to make sacrifices for it no matter the possible consequences. The message was clear that it does not come easy to be yourself; however, it is worth it. I loved the action and how it was represented in the cinematography. A complete story was told with such little dialog. The casting was perfect and believable. The actors were flawless and heartfelt. I truly enjoyed the film. It covered racial, sexual, demographic and socio economic issues in such a concise and realistic way. I would love to show it at my festival.

Angie is a tough fighter in the underground women's circuit. With her lover looking to make a clean start in another city, Angie is forced to decide between making the same break, or staying and continuing to fight so she can look after her ill mother and being loyal to her fight arranger. The offer of a solution that could tick many boxes appeals to her, despite the risks.

This short film is currently in development to become a full-length feature film, and one can understand why – because it is a story with potential. Unfortunately, the short film doesn't fully realise that potential and it does very much feel like more needs to be done here, but they just lacked the space to do it. In terms of narrative, it is perfectly fine; it has a lot going on in the short running time, and learn about the character's situations and therefore motivations as to what they will ultimately do. What the film doesn't do so well is to get down inside these characters and flesh them out to be real people as we see them. I still found the story pretty decent, but I wanted to care more about the people than I did.

Despite being "only" a short, the film does look very professional. The fight sequences are directed with a lot of energy and impact, and generally the rest of the film is well captured and delivered from a technical point of view. There is an odd amount of sexual material through the film, and in the short it feels out of place because it is so frequent. So for example the two female characters don't seem to talk while sitting at a table or on a sofa, their scenes mostly involved being close together and partially dressed – it is not done in a crass way, it is just done and clearly as a decision. There are several examples of that, and it does feel strange, albeit probably because the film doesn't have depth to provide that context. More troubling was the mix of sexuality into violence, perhaps less obviously but I felt quite uncomfortable at times with just how good Heggins looks while fighting.

Despite these doubts, the short is solid for what it does, even if there is scope for more – which I genuinely would be interested to see, as the film perhaps spends less relative screen time with the characters with their flesh out, and has more time to have their characters fleshed out.