Short Film Review “Love, from Ellie” Depth of loss whimsically and dramatically crashes into the beauty, necessity of remembrance
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
First, the Recap:
“It isn’t fair!!!” Have we all not thought or, more likely, shouted this to the skies when all our best laid plans, so meticulously created, suddenly go south? We take it personally, as if ALL that is reality is warring against JUST ourselves and things we desire to accomplish. The frustration and harbored regrets can subsequently eat us alive, burning within like an unquenchable blaze, with no end to it evident. Unless, of course, we step back, take a breath, and find the means to instead make the MOST of what we DO and CAN have.
Clever, and perhaps JUST a bit mischievous, 9-year old Ellie (Sara Willars) isn’t feeling well today, or at least that’s what she tells her hard-working mother Kate (Carly Christopher). Once the that has been rectified, Ellie enacts her actual plan for the day…going to visit her father’s war memorial to throw him a well-conceived birthday party. With the aid of her disheveled, homeless uncle George (Craig Nigh), Ellie embarks on her journey, only to find that, sometimes, everything doesn’t exactly GO to plan in life.
Next, my Mind:
Joyous in its ultimate intent, affecting and poignant in its deeply heart-wrenching circumstances, imperative in its messaging, and simply presented with all the genuine heart in the world, this amazing 16-minute short film from writer/director/producer Chantelle James, producers Kirtana Banskota and Paulina Manseau, plus co-producers Serene Bynum, Amado DeHoyos, and Jesse Gooch immediately establishes itself as a must-see effort. Told with an overall delightful, breezy style that doesn’t shy away from some of the more impactfully difficult but HIGHLY pertinent themes the story addresses, it’s yet another project that this critic will firmly place in the category of NECESSARY films for us as fellow human beings to see, absorb, and contemplate on a multitude of levels. No other way to say that it absolutely represents the beating heart of indie filmmaking, the filmmakers behind it, and the VALUE of their ability to tell utterly engaging tales that MATTER.
Delivering a narrative that sees the elations and sorrows of a young girl who only wishes to remember her beloved veteran father on his birthday via formulating a plan to have a party at his war memorial that doesn’t go like she wishes, the pacing is perfection, the viewer’s attention with events is unwavering thanks to the writing, the rollercoaster of emotions is tangibly all-encompassing, and the sheer importance of what is depicted stands in your mind well after the end credits roll. This is cinema meant to MOVE you, to COMPEL you to ponder afterwards, to INFLUENCE you to not take for granted the notions of loss, grief, coping, and the ways we can find to more constructively deal with heaviness of heart and spirit while paying total tribute to the essentialness of what SHOULD be that which we hold closest and most dear…FAMILY. The film so acutely touches on all these points with excellence of purpose, transparent emotive force, and the requisite degrees of both humor and drama to make these points stick.
From the wittiness and charm of Ellie’s manner, the seriousness in which she takes on her mission, the undeniable strength of her objective to ensure her father is not forgotten, and the willingness to stay connected and associate with a perceived (or real!) outcast from the family, to the honoring of our veterans, parent/child relationships, the inner pain we feel for all those we’ve lost, the frustration at not being able to control things we have NO control over anyway, and allowing ourselves the grace through another’s counsel and encouragement to realize that we can find a way to do what we aimed for and do it well, even if it doesn’t go exactly like we expected, all are thematic threads we see here, each carrying their own magnitude of substance and relevance to the narrative. Wonderful execution just paves the way for this film to convey the smile-manifesting, tear-inducing atmosphere it produces, with an accompanying music score that serves to amp that up with its ethereally stirring ebb and flow throughout the runtime.
The finale is enchantingly inspiring, a completely apropos ending that brings so many elements full circle and leaves you feeling heartened…even as you’re reaching for those tissues (come on, you KNOW that’s YOU! Hey, I know it was ME!) Willars is positively stellar here, exuding the exceptionally crafted blend of youthful innocence, playful sweetness, dogged determination, and unambiguous rawness of heartwarming and heartbreaking believability through her role here as Ellie, a young girl with a singular focus and the wits to pull it off. Relying on the help of her estranged uncle, Ellie goes to her father’s memorial with celebration in mind. But, as a series of little events threaten to continually upend all she has in her mind (and backpack), will she still have the fortitude to listen to another person struggling with his own hurt in order that they might BOTH end up sharing mutually needed release and reminiscing? Willars guides the character through this volatility so magnificently, yet another example of the incredible talent found in child actors currently! Just so impressive and amusing while also being such a mature performance.
Nigh, initially, showcases a much more muted, almost eerily calm-but-what-lies-under-the-surface vibe through his role as George, Ellie’s uncle and her departed father’s brother who had more than a small falling out with his sibling prior to them losing him. While George shows the caring enough disposition to come with Ellie on her journey, his unsettled and somewhat apathetic attitude toward her endeavors gets a wake-up call when things start going sideways and her own demeanor gets so overtly down, with their interactions suddenly exploding and George starting to realize his own need for closure, familial love, attention, and peace that has eluded him or is bottled up inside within the guilt and shame he has experienced. It is this sense of George’s state of being having been buried and now exposed that Nigh so keenly brings the character through, arriving at a point where George finally might re-discover happiness again. It’s another great performance that lends that air of tension to the story before letting go and turning far more pleasant, a credit to Nigh and his acting here.
Supporting turns arrive from Christopher as Ellie’s mother Kate, a now-single mother whose outfits and general actions tells us how hard she’s working to not only make ends meet, but provide for those she loves the most, and who may have her own ideas of what to think about Ellie’s initially clandestine adventure, and Kathy Rose Center as Ruth, Ellie’s grandmother who may wish to take a lesson in being far more aware of her surroundings in the house when it comes to Ellie. So, in total, “Love, from Ellie” is a beautifully executed, dynamically persuasive, wholly entertaining short film that also conveys the hurts we endure, how we try to move forward, treasure the recollections of those who are gone, and grasp on even tighter to those we still have. There’s a lot to learn from films like this, and one hopes we CAN and DO.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
