Thrilling, powerful and sinister are the three adjectives that most perfectly define the experience of interacting with I'm Still Here. The film takes us into the very uncertain, and therefore, doubly horrifying reality of a woman called Maggie who is hiding in a basement while waiting for her parents to come back. The latter had ventured out in search of supplies seven days ago and have not been heard from since. 

 In the process, the film invokes the deeply disconcerting situations of emotional isolation, along with a physical kind, allowing it to be a more hard-hitting story in a world that is only beginning to get back on its feet from the lonesome existence of a pandemic. The physical threat is never truly revealed to the viewer, thereby allowing it to invoke fear of a distinctive visceral kind, individual to each mind, one heightened by concealing more than what the story reveals. However, in addition to this, it is the oppressive internal, emotional threat that truly captures the viewer's attention and ensures they are unable to look away even in the face of something potentially fatal awaiting the protagonist. 

 There is further much to be said about the expert and sophisticated manner in which sound is employed to conjure the world Maggie inhabits. Markedly, it is indeed another woman's voice on a walkie-talkie, Emory, that allows decisive and crucial forward movement of the plot. As the two women find themselves a space of companionship, solidarity, and hence, much-needed strength during a moment of paralyzing panic, the film conveys all of its intentions in a notably effortless manner. Moreover, it would indeed be quite something to see the short film as a longer project.

I'm Still Here | Short Film of the Day

Still Love You is a powerful and beautifully-handled directorial debut that offers a poignant and insightful exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, in particular, and the overall makeup of the equation that could perhaps apply to mother-daughters everywhere, in general. The film opens with a shot of a woman applying red lipstick, perhaps getting ready for an important date. The situation is revealed to be far from that as she impatiently awaits her daughter's baby-sitter, while squeezing in little chores in-between all along. 

When 'Mimi' finally arrives, revealed to be the protagonist's mother, the tone shifts markedly. Along with being a single mother, the protagonist is a dancer at a gentleman's club - not the most ideal circumstance, according to her mother. Consequently, as the difference of opinions takes the form of several disagreements in the conversation between them, on top of the urgency to make it to her appointment in time, the scene now comes to be defined by anxieties, disapproval of each other's life choices, offers of help which might come across as patronizing, and some more. And yet, a daughter cannot help, but go back to some of the same patterns she shared with her mother, when it comes to raising her own daughter. 

 The same thought becomes a lovely thematic concern for the narrative. As it continues to develop, there is of course a second act waiting to follow the stressful drama of the first half. Lights are softer now, the physical space is tidier, assumedly in alignment with a calmer mental space as well, and the sound of arguing voices is subdued. It is simply in this contrast that the film's primary motivations are laid bare for the viewer, leaving them with an intensely emotional, skilfully-crafted final result at the end of it all.

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