~~~~
An emotionally troubled young man, spending the summer with his grandfather following the death of his grandmother, begins to follow around an attractive young woman after she catches his eye in a cinema, well away from his girlfriend’s gaze. Before long, he plucks up the courage to confront and bare his soul to her, but is met with an unexpected though strangely helpful response, in this hypnotically affecting tragicomic short film.
In this inventive and intelligent though emotionally uninvolving short film, a suburban, middle-class housewife comes to suspect that her husband is having an affair, when she discovers a seemingly incriminating phone number on the kitchen table. And after a conversation with a gossipy, soap-obsessed friend and the discovery of a few more little clues, she becomes convinced. However, there is more to these unfolding events than immediately meets her (or indeed our) eye.
Still in the midst of his own personal post-college malaise (despite pushing thirty) and about to be kicked out of his childhood home by his parents, an unpublished writer embarks on a road trip from Seattle to Austin with a flaky but nevertheless independent friend. However, when said chum is forced to return home to iron out some domestic troubles, the easy-going scribbler finds himself stranded in a small Californian town with nothing to do and no one to do it with… that is until he meets a young, attractive local woman, with whom he shares an instant attraction, in this delightful, micro-budgeted romantic drama. Charming performances, sensuous direction, and discreet scoring combine to decidedly beautiful effect.
Lauren
Is Missing | 2013 | ★★★
A young woman returns from her travels to
discover that her flatmate is missing, but continues on with her life undaunted,
forming an intense new friendship and starting an unusual new job. However,
before long, she is forced to confront the elephant in the room, as the mystery
of her friend’s disappearance deepens. Charismatic performances and unpredictable
plotting combine well, in this stimulatingly eclectic mix of styles, tones, and
genres. However, said mix does not always prove an elegant one.
