First, the Recap:
“All I want to do is LIVE!!” Have you ever found yourself at that precise point of breaking, of just wanting to scream at the top of your lungs, to let the world know that sentiment until you’re breathless from the exertion? Yeah, me too. Daily we come face to face with every possible challenge, whether big or small, that prompts us to question what it will take to find that ideal fulfillment, direction, purpose, intent, and all-encompassing zest for life we ache for. The hard yet valid truth–it so often comes down to choice. Is it taking a risk to step outside established parameters and find your own way to new horizons beyond what’s been conditioned into you?
Do we find that when those we treasure most suddenly diverge outside what we thought was assured we want to change them back rather than accept it? Can the reminders of what we’ve had and then lost during the storms of misunderstanding and heated debate cause reconciliation for love or become the catalyst to learn and move on? Letting go is hard enough when its someone we so closely cherished is now gone, yet in the time immediately after, do we come to a new realization about how present they still are? And friendship that endures is bonded by the depth of personal connection, with dreams, hopes, and plans made that build the excitement of what adventures might await. These are realities we face. These are true emotions we experience. This IS life.
Next, my Mind:
The six short film efforts that made up the “Can’t I Just Live?” block at the 2021 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival most definitely carried with them the weight of this existence and all the seemingly innumerable ways it can be a harbinger of joy, sadness, longing, release, lessons, heartache, injustice, yet some newfound hope for the future via the equally prolific number of interactions we have with other human beings. Of the many elements that stand out for me in the world of indie cinema, it is so often the sheer rawness and conclusive candidness of how the thematic explorations indicated in the recap above are portrayed that struck me to the core. Let’s face it, fictional films or not, they still bear witness to incontrovertible truth about real life and therefore make watching narratives in this ilk so relatable and grounded in believability. It’s honestly the scope of creativity in presenting the substance of each film here that also moved me in so many ways emotionally, which for me is tribute to the quality filmmaking that has taken place before my eyes.
In writer/director/producer/actress Brittney Rae‘s “Water“, we’re slung into an alternate version of 1967 and entreated to a reality where from the youngest age possible, everyone is controlled, molded, and virtually forced to become part of a specific social group. For Lucy (Rae), it becomes an passionate, purposeful, unknowingly world-changing journey of compulsory conventionality vs. blossoming rebellion as she navigates a broken home, loss, meeting Julian (Frantzy Moreau), and defying every constraint as imparted by her “ruler”, the Pool King (David Jura), intelligently paying tribute to actual history of that year. In “Gaining And Losing” from director Stacey Maltin, the film’s title has dual meanings in sharing a tale about a young woman named Tara (Daphne Zelle), a rising dancer whose dinner get-together with former roommate and best friend Nina (Mariana Vily) becomes more than heated when Nina’s announcement of her future plans comes into severe conflict with Tara’s previous understanding, even as Nina’s new friend Mia (Jillian R. Waters) makes attempts to defend her. It’s a fervent and focused message about our unwillingness to accept change, especially when it doesn’t line up with our own notions of what’s to happen.
Writer/director/producer Maren Lavelle‘s “Maya” plumbs the always stormy seas of recent break-ups and the recollections, heartbreaking realities, and potential reconsiderations that come with it as seen through the eyes of Maya (Aury Krebs), a stage director working on a project that is hitting JUST a bit too close to home as she finds herself being distracted by all the elements that caused her and her beau Phoebe (Erin McCarthy) to split ways. Covering topics of ethnicity, social standing, and even stereotyping, it’s a deftly volatile, wholly affecting, ultimately hard-hitting actuality check that asks–what’s worth fighter for–or moving on from. It’s foundations are about the tragedy of losing a best friend, but then things become much more deep and evocative in writer/director/producer Joseph Mazzella‘s short film “Snaps” that sees Josh (Christopher McLinden) at the edge of his sanity upon attending the funeral of soulmate Carrie (Inga Schlingmann). However, on that ledge, Josh suddenly becomes privy to a revelatory series of instances that both shake and awaken him to a realization that this moment might not actually be his relationship’s swan song, but rather a rebirth that sets him free. It’s a smart, emotionally-charged statement on letting go.
Two high school best friends find themselves in a state of contemplation filled with fears, doubts, and renewal of the beauty that comes from friendship and lasting commitment, showcasing a different form of love in writer/director/producer Emily Lerer‘s mildly quirky but no less impactful, deeply human, and wonderfully stirring “Other Half“. It’s a night out on a cold evening for carefree Tori (Sierra Pond) and the more reserved Alexis (Danielle Kay) who venture into the realms of what the future holds and how much they desire their friendship to stand the test of time, with a decidedly–bold–declaration to seal it! Then we take a decidedly, sadly, all-too-realistic but definitively necessary venture into circumstances that ring loudly in today’s current societal upheaval via writer/director/producer Ukachi Arinzeh‘s “The Inconvenience of Being Black” that sees fully legitimate citizen Calvin (Johnny Brown) being given the wrongly profiled, harassment-laden, blindly judged third degree by two Detectives (Gregg Prosser and Mark Williams) during a “routine” traffic stop that throws Calvin’s entire reality into a tailspin of righteous (and rightly placed!) anger and emotional turmoil just because of his color. Need I say more about this theme? Look at the news.
Folks, these thoughts expressed only represent but a snapshot of what each of these projects have to offer, and it’s more than fair to say that given opportunity, watch them and allow their respective and highly varying atmospheres pull you in and make you examine and appraise their worthiness in reflecting the ebb and flow of the short block’s intent. So, in total, may these films stand tall and strong as further examples of indie film’s prowess and necessity, causing us to pause and think, and perhaps even drive us to, again, do the one thing they all encourage us to do through the trials and triumphs we’ll experience–THRIVE!!
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
