Insightful, sharp and subtle are the three words that most aptly describe the documentary film and its subject matter. The execution is calm and exhibits a maturity that allows it to be an impactful product without demanding attention vociferously. The film engages with a needle exchange facility in California that also gives basic medical aid and assistance to those whose bodies have been affected by substance abuse. The narrative succeeds at being calm, yet deeply forceful in making its point simply because it does not strive for an overarching meaning for its existence, but instead tells its truth as it is. The subject is powerful, the story hard-hitting. The camerawork is simple, but precisely what this particular story needs. The images are chosen intelligently to allow the narrative to disconcert the viewer without being sensationally graphic. It further engages with health and survival with the right balance of being clinical and non-participatory, yet sensitive. Staying completely honest and sincere to a particular event or occurrence makes it all the more poignant and moving which is what The Clinic achieves most effortlessly. Through an objective representation of an aspect of the society we inhabit, it provides a meaningful narrative about life and existence.

The Clinic | Short Film of the Day

This 2D, hand-drawn animation by Pixar is a wonderful union of two very disparate characters and how they finally find a common ground for companionship. The film is an exploration of instinctive distrust we often inculcate within ourselves without realising it. This is coupled with an engagement with vulnerability as well as unexpected friendships. Along with it all, the film also gives a glimpse into animal abuse, while effortlessly busting myths about pit bulls being dangerously aggressive. The story is of a kitten and a pit bull, the former extremely apprehensive of the latter in the face of all his attempts for them to be friends. It is finally an act of kindness that brings them together and thus begins a deeply endearing tale of the two overcoming the obstacles in their respective paths. There is fearlessness and trust that the characters find in themselves, aided by each other in the most heartwarming ways. And it is in overcoming these internal hurdles that their true victory lies, suggests the narrative with its conclusion.

Kitbull | Pixar | Short Film of the Day

When you are done watching ‘He Won’t Belong’, an emotional resonance lingers. In the loss, grief, and trauma the narrative portrays, even in how the visuals wrap themselves around all of these sentiments, the lingering remains omnipresent. 

The film is the story of two strangers, Theo and Connor, stumbling across each other in the most unlikely manner. The former finds the latter wandering alone by the side of the road during a storm. The chance encounter, however, leads the two, and the viewer along with them, down a path of deep emotional truths, sometimes painful, sometimes disturbing, but forever demanding to be felt and acknowledged. 

The authenticity of the voice with which the film is constructed remains loud and clear. Additionally, it presents an approach to queer storytelling that explores the nuance and complexity of personal journeys that is often easy to overlook. The performances bring to life a remarkable portrayal of vulnerability as they explore ideas of love with heartbreaking honesty. The visual progression is equally stunning, painting for the viewer an image that will stay with you, linger, as it may, long after you are done watching the film.

He Won't Belong   | Short Film of the Month

The film explores the deeply disturbing space of domestic abuse, but more specifically, the absolute and crushing difficulty of escaping that space. The said exploration remains crisp and swift, as well as impactful in the force with which it shares its ideas. 

The viewer is presented with a woman, the protagonist, who is bruised and hurt in an appalling manner. While she takes care of her injuries, her young son, completely unaware of her mother’s plight, watches playfully violent antics of cartoon characters on the television in the next room. 

The film employs the innocent, childish images from the cartoon as a juxtaposition against the brutal reality of the physical assault of the protagonist, to drive its message home. Frenzied texts from her husband continue, “Can we just talk?”, “It won’t happen again.”, and the viewer already knows the implicit responses to them - the direction this talk will eventually take won't be very different from the current scenario, and that it will indeed happen again. In the process, an urgent message is also offered, but without making the narrative didactic, overly-sentimental or superficial.

Come Back | Short Film of the Day

The film opens on a quiet note of a calm voice-over weaved with a blank background. This, in no, way prepares you for the events that are about to unfold, deliberately taking you in a direction opposite to what may have been assumed so far. When a woman introduces you to a man, the first instance is to let yourself be deceived into this being a love story. On the contrary, it would be a story of violence, hurt, and most importantly, of a panic attack. 

The moment the viewer finds themselves located at the heart of Lisa's desperate attempts to bring herself back from a panic attack using sense grounding, most skilfully employed within the body of the narrative, little do they realise that they have already been sucked into the story beyond the point of return. The narrative then follows a non-linear, back and forth movement to conjure the past events that led to this intensely emotional moment for the protagonist. 

As the drama is built gradually, tactfully withholding and revealing information in turns, it is evident that we are headed towards an inevitable disaster. It is indeed in the realization of this lack of control in stopping the forward motion towards a potential catastrophe that the true success of the film lies. It further makes a pertinent, emphatic comment about violence and abuse in intimate equations and relationships, eventually leaving you with a conclusion which, though disturbing, is tinged with poetic justice, and for the morbid viewer, perhaps even with a strange sense of satisfaction.

Sense Memory | Short Film of the Day

When one talks of domestic abuse, the first instinct is to imagine a heteronormative couple and the many travails of their life. This is the idea that Oh, Brother subverts to bring to life a highly dysfunctional relationship of two brothers, Malcolm and Philip. The characters are portrayed as being cut-off and isolated from the external world, continuing their grim existence within the confines of their house, with its bareness and the mementos of a shared past enhancing the texture of the story.

 The narrative offers an interesting dynamic by way of the equation of the brothers, aptly portraying for the viewer how an abuser isolates their victim from the rest of society, ensuring there is no other source of comfort or refuge available to them other than the dysfunctional and grotesque presence of the abuser themselves. In the film, however, things come to a head in the most unexpected manner when a stranger breaks into their house. 

 The ensuing butterfly effect throws Malcolm and Philip's world into absolute chaos, altering the course of their relationship forever. The storytelling, in the process, acquires a relevant tone and approach to the delineation of abuse and the twisted co-dependence of such an equation. However, is there an upper limit up to which it can be pulled and tugged before it snaps into two? The film presents a conclusive answer.

Oh, Brother | Short Film Nominee

The short narrative is a weaving together of poignant stories inspired by real life events in New Delhi, India. One story after another, The Undefeated introduces us to the harrowing experiences of children and women from vulnerable backgrounds in the capital city and nearby areas. The experiences invoke physical, sexual and emotional abuse, portrayed in a sophisticated, sensitive and powerful manner.

 Each story differs from the previous in its aesthetic approach, while still subscribing to the same pace and overall tonality. The animation matches it all, allowing the stories to communicate what they had set out to convey in the first place. Despite the heaviness of the thematic concerns of the final product, it manages to conjure an indomitable sense of hope. This, in turn, serves as a reminder that while exploitation and oppression might often come from the very space which should have been a source of protection and comfort, there is also a sizeable number of people working towards sheltering those in need. 

 It is precisely this overarching message about each individual's ability to make a change of the proportion and intensity that their own life permits, that becomes the thought the anthology of stories leaves you with.

The Undefeated | Short Film Nominee

It is late into the night when a boy leaves a library and heads to the parking lot of the building. However, right from the opening of the film, his deep discomfort and distress is apparent to the viewer. His movements are rushed and unsure, suggesting the fear of perhaps being followed. 

Even the most regular and mundane situations acquire disturbing proportions for the protagonist as he desperately seeks to leave the underground parking lot and head home. Accompanying these tense visuals is the constant pinging of a phone in the form of text messages and phone calls from a woman who is keeping regular tabs on the protagonist's movements. 

 All of these developments are tied together to conjure a narrative about abusive relationships and the manner in which they can come to control a person's lived reality. The film adopts characteristics of the thriller and horror genres to convey its intentions, and completes itself by offering the viewer a fast-paced final result.

Most Viewed

Genres

Awards

Follow Us

Quick Links