It is Halloween, the festive, carnivalesque spirit has begun to stretch out its limbs and before you know, three drunk men are lugging a metal post box-esque contraption across the corner of a street. Minor acts of vandalism are not stuff of nightmares, but this specific object soon becomes the MacGuffin of ‘Wastelanders’, propelling an unsuspecting man’s life into absolute chaos. 
 

As wonderfully bizarre as it sounds, this is the premise of the film, a complete punch of crime, action, thrill, all neatly packed within a few minutes. 

A drunken night with his friends has left Adam in possession of this mailbox that now needs to be taken care of. However, in the process, some important paperwork is also discarded with it. When Adam returns to retrieve it, a terrible development awaits him, and he gets swooped up in the rigmarole of a violent, criminal act that is threatening to run out of control. 

The consistency of the world conjured with the storytelling and characters, suffice to say, exhibits finesse in execution, approach and tonality. Despite the simultaneous development of the several events, the film upholds the lucidity of its plot, ensuring that the viewer is equally invested in each of these events. 'Wastelanders' is a well-handled film, leaving one with the prospect of more such storytelling by Patryk Terelak and Rockwell White.

Wastelanders  | Short Film of the Month

The night is far from young when a woman, complete with fishnets and asymmetrical jewelry, makes her way into a record store. The decade is the 90s, the hour late, and the store quiet, save for the absolute chaos that is about to go down in the wake of what could have been a mundane exchange. 

We meet only three characters, Dean, and a girl and a boy in this store. Brimming with nostalgic relics of an age gone by, deliberately conjured with strong control to locate the viewer within the same temporal space as the characters, the narrative handles the many complexities adroitly. 

It is precisely this control which ensures that the plot remains marked by crispness, not wasting its breath on hackneyed sentimentalism, and ensuring all of its punches land. Amidst it all, however, a series of very violent events, albeit regularly punctuated by humor, await the characters. Tying it all together with the right sprinkle of punk and angst that defined the age, the short film presents to you its own little world.

Traders | Short Film of the Day

It won't be erroneous to say that the film is highly likely to catch the fancy of an admirer of the likes of Twin Peaks or Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Set in the rocky terrain of Montana, USA, the film is complete with its cool palettes of browns and greys, of autumn leaves and misty mountains. The inverted detective story of Eagle Rock opens with the scene of a prison where a girl recounts the events that eventually led to three murders. It is the late 60s-early 70s that forms the historical location of the story which moves back and forth in time in its non-linear fashion.
 The audience is introduced to Alex who works at a bookstore. Her path soon crosses with that of Jay, a man who is her senior in years and experience, someone she also finds irresistible in his charm and lure. A romantic rendezvous ensures that the course of her life is changed forever. Alex's rapidly growing devotion to Jay continues to develop while more young and visibly gullible women are drawn to him, eventually resulting in a cult-like group of as many as sixteen members. The film exhibits vision and powerful storytelling. However, the execution of the plot misses a few marks, keeping it from being all that it could be. It would have been appreciated had the second half maintained the same pace as the first half which takes its time coming into its own, the various elements of the plot would have seemed more consistent and congruent in this scenario. However, this critique is only intended to shine light on the potential the film already exhibits. It is an involving, entertaining watch, making the viewer sit up and pay attention to the skill and expertise of Eleanor Wells.

Eagle Rock | Short Film Nominee

From suspense to thrill to dark comedy to gore and body horror, 'Dredge' packs it all in a concise, brief manner. Other than the action that unfolds before you, the film is primarily a stringing together of conversations. A woman who is conducting seedy business with the 'Swiss' is deeply unhappy about her professional outcomes. With imminent financial woes as well as trouble with law enforcement, she is at the end of her road. 

On the other hand, the person who mows her lawn, is in a different kind of desperate situation, indeed triggered by her own respective work and money troubles. As this subtle parallel is drawn, the plot comes into being. The manner in which these pressures get expressed and articulated lead to two gruesome acts, each becoming the defining feature of the two women, allowing the film to express its intentions in a lucid manner. Additionally, there is an overlap of these stories with a third character, and a performance marked by clear skill and conviction, that ties the whole narrative together, while also allowing a bridge between its two predominant strands. 

The various elements further put a class hierarchy in place, while at the same time, offering a comment on the disastrous results that are born out of a desperate bid to survive. It is precisely these aspects of the storytelling that, despite a few rough edges in the handling of its visuals, eventually ensure that the film presents a composite whole to the audience to interact with.

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