The short film invokes the most disconcerting narrative by portraying how sometimes the source of our worst fears are the very places which should have been associated with comfort and safety. The story is predominantly of a single night when a girl finds herself realising that her most fearsome and loathsome thoughts stem from a young man she has decided to invest herself too deeply in. The film further offers an interesting exploration of the dynamics of a heteronormative relationship where the boy threatens her mental and emotional security, if not physical. In a society where conversation around gender is gaining prominence, it is often convenient for oppressive tools of patriarchy to steer clear off overtly problematic behaviour that allows them to pander to their ego and sense of righteousness. Amidst all of this, what of the consciousness of a young woman trapped in a relationship with a man who stands for everything she abhors? The Rat is a potent comment on how women find themselves located in a society where patriarchy reigns free. The protagonist may have drawn whiskers on her face with little cat ears to go. However, when she wakes up to find her makeup smudged the following morning, would she find it in her to finally outplay the rat?

The Rat | Short Film of the Day

The world of the film is seductive, alluring, but surreptitiously so. It is a world where women run their own metaphorical 'club', echoing in its title a subversion of the 'boys ' club' of our contemporary reality. However, the reality they conjure for the men involved is no less horrifying for it involves women eating their male counterparts after having sex with them, quite literally. 

When seventeen-year-old Zack gets asked out on a date by a much older woman, he is immediately surrounded by a charge of well-meaning men, spearheaded by Moe, who attempt to talk him out of it. There are Bachelors Anonymous meetings, cries of celibacy and the outright rejection of the violence inflicted by women on men in the pursuit of convincing Zack to cancel his date. However the desire for love, intimacy and hope remains triumphant over all fears and doubts for our meek, wide-eyed protagonist. 

The dark comedy holds back no punches in sharing its ideas on misogyny, patriarchy and the power dynamics of heteronormative equations, providing an insightful social commentary in the process. And yet, it never veers off its course of a dark comedy, eschewing refuge in an overbearing or didactic tone, thereby making its messaging more impactful. As for the characters and their fate, while the men may have already painted a picture of women and their evil nature for Zack (a part of the fictive narrative which holds disturbingly true for the real world as well), would he eventually find love, or simply another predator awaiting to devour its prey?

Mantis Club | Short Film of the Month

The film is primarily a conversation between two women, one a hardened adult who has completely accepted the several onslaughts of patriarchy in her life. The other is her daughter, on the cusp of adulthood, striving with everything that she’s got against the same onslaught. 

The two women of color, now in the USA, find themselves at complete loggerheads where while one struggles to hold on to antiquated ideas of tradition, the other is trying to seek out more of what the world has to offer. As Mehar endeavors to convince her mother to let her pursue her fully-funded degree at MIT, her mother becomes the very mirror of internalized patriarchy and misogyny where women themselves prevent other women from breaking out of their shackles. The end result falls a little short of utilizing its actors to their full potential. Nevertheless, it presents an important conversation that more often than not defines the immigrant experience for women of color in particular, and of women all over the world in general.

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