‘Youth’ is a lovely conversation with the sharpness of pain we specifically associate with our firsts, or the years that would eventually go ahead to serve the foundation of adulthood. It is an interaction with a fresh heart that is perhaps yet to see its share of tragedies. All of this is mapped against the intimacy of friendship, and consequently, the soul crushing realization that comes with its deprivation. 

As we are taken into a single afternoon when two girls say their goodbyes, the circumstance comes to be defined by anger, denial and helplessness. Additionally, locating itself in the late nineties, there is further a texture added to the narratorial development, while also emphasizing a time before the internet and social media have made their inevitable appearance on the horizon of urban lives. 

Sarah and Jessica share an endearing friendship, one that faces a crucial crossroads. The film does a sophisticated job of allowing the viewer to witness this moment, along with all the poignancy that it entails.

Youth | Short Film of the Day

The thematic concerns of ‘Beyond the Yard’ are complex and compelling. It is the story of a mother and her daughter who find themselves especially isolated from the rest of the world due to the ravages of mental illness. The former battles depression and hoarding tendencies, leaving very little space, literal and metaphorical, for her daughter’s existence. 

The aforementioned isolation, as well as a sense of emotional clutter, are portrayed using visuals of a house brimming with heaps of discarded things that now lie forgotten. These are coupled with vast outdoors where the daughter is simply an insignificant entity that can be overwhelmed by the emptiness around her any minute. 

Along with physical and emotional isolation, loneliness and despair, there is further a subversion of roles where the daughter has become the caretaker. Instead of being allowed a childhood and its effervescence, she has to fill in for the absentee adult in her life. The film endeavors all of this, and some more in its short duration. It would be preferable to see a longer, more slow-cooked version of its characters and their many dynamics for the story to truly come into its own.

Beyond The Yard | Short Film of the Day

The story of ‘Yard Sale’ is of one afternoon when a man is selling off some old items after the passing of his mother. From crock pots to tuxedos to musical instruments and statues of Indian goddesses, there is all kinds of paraphernalia in this sale. While these items may have once constituted the life of a family, now each of them finds a new significance for different customers. 

The film weaves them all together to portray the innumerable ways an object can interact with memory and experience. The same is communicated sometimes through music, song, and dance, and sometimes simply in the form of a verbal exchange between two people. The narrative, though showing the want of a little cohesiveness, is a sweet endeavor in storytelling, and should be appreciated thus. There is further the intention to look at the role of memory and the manner in which it comes to be deeply embedded and entwined with emotions, as well as relationships that define us.

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