WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
If someone close to us is suddenly no longer there, we feel that void within, an often painful emptiness that threatens to engulf us if not placed in check. While others around us strive to ease our suffering, letting go is never an easy or even immediately sought after resolution, nor is the potentially lingering sense of responsibility. For one young man (Christopher Laws), a lonely sojourn sitting on a park bench is where such mourning takes place. Filled with a sense of contriteness at the loss of a best friend (Jack McKenna), all seems devoid of hope.
However, when stuck in the farthest recesses of his own wounded thoughts, a familiar voice rings out, urging him to not give in to any semblance of guilt-ridden culpability in how circumstances came about or went down. Further emphasizing that letting go and moving on, not allowing life to fall to ruin because of what happened, is paramount and necessary, the young man still attempts to rationalize how things should have gone differently or not happened at all. Still encouraging the opposite, the voice implores him to surrender his self-reproach, and allow existence to proceed.
Next, my Mind:
Director/actor Christopher Laws and writer/actor Jack McKenna deliver a highly emotive, candidly realistic, and deeply affecting narrative in only a little over four short minutes, which stands as a testament to the creative quality and intelligent storytelling found within the independent film arena. Cohesively filmed, smartly utilizing its practical one-setting arrangement, and presenting a conversation that is both truthfully profane yet touching and emotional, the messages intended here are clear, concise, and again, moving.
The two actors smoothly execute their respective roles with ease thanks to the film’s logically laid out format, with Laws’ grieving character battling the all-too-often visited doubts and laments combined with sincere heartache and lonely pain in acknowledging his friend is gone. McKenna’s portrayal of the now-departed friend who “visits” his compatriot one last time is likewise filled with the kind of heartfelt sentiment shared between those who’ve we’ve bonded to in friendship, acknowledging the sheer fact that sorrow is ok, but that letting it dictate or stall life is not desired, but to release it.
In total, “Bench” most certainly deserves the initial rewards and ongoing recognition Laws and McKenna are starting to experience with it, as it addresses the one prime quality that this reviewer never tires of mentioning when it comes to the very core nature residing at the heart of the indie realms–it is forever, effectively, undeniably human.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
