WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Acquiescence. While circumstances might dictate our choices and/or the subsequent actions we take in order to confront a given occurrence, how often is it that we instead attempt to close it out of our minds, shelving it deep within us so as NOT to face the realities of truths we don’t wish to accept. Will we therefore find ourselves prisoners to said actualities, being dominated and controlled by them? Alternatively, might we discover the means to experience liberation? For one couple, Duncan (Jordan Mullins) and Maria (Avery Draper Davis), this becomes the deliberation encountered while enduring the aftermath of tragedy. Despite the input of their therapist Dr. Wallace Cummings (Carlos Faison), it will take a full measure of as of yet found fortitude, especially for Duncan, to see life present the path forward.
Next, my Mind:
A deftly potent, smartly written, well-executed exercise in illustrating inward reconciliation that’s artistically and adeptly delivered in only 14+ minutes, this indie short effort from director/co-producer/editor Abhishek Satham, writer/co-producer Lee Ross, and producer Smita Mahajan Satham bears awareness-raising intelligence and presents several other very necessary core statements about what it is to seek peace in personal strife while still understanding that, sometimes anyway, we MUST be willing to travel through pain to find our needed growth and freedom in and from it rather than being swallowed up by grief and isolation. Through an initially subtle (still intensely emotive) then eye-opening narrative structure that finds its foundational focus in the context of a highly heart-rending thematic concept, this is the style of film that transcends beyond its nucleus and speaks on an even deeper level to the overt, essential need we have for inner healing that seems so lacking in this chaotic day and age we find ourselves dwelling in currently.
Following a beleaguered couple who find themselves in desperate need to proceed towards a journey enveloped in redemption of marriage, life, and elusive but hoped for, successfully growing familial unit, the film smoothly and effectively winds its way through a multitude of ideas and ideologies that center on crippling loss, artistic avenues of coping, letting out emotional turmoil while realizing it’s ok TO let go, being willing to express our hurt, overcoming fears, overthinking things in lieu of just allowing ourselves to release control and be lead to more constructive means of facing an agonizing situation, and accepting the powerful truth that we are NOT alone and working things through together is paramount. All of this gets addressed with stirring persuasiveness and is showcased with a beautifully formulated method of slowly building revelation that really adds, at least for this critic, to the overall impact I felt the filmmakers intended. The finale is a stroke of creativeness that more than cements the film’s messages and delivers HOPE.
I also freely admit that I am giving the film this amount of praise because I personally wholeheartedly believe it is efforts like this that we so NEED in order to serve as both a prompting for acknowledgement of the situation being portrayed and its associated realities, but also as that quiet yet forceful gut punch to remind us there are people who HAVE and DO deal with the state of affairs depicted and NEED others around them to be the voices of comfort and support. It also becomes a statement that it is absolutely OK to SEEK HELP, and to be open to what that can do to bring us out of misery and back to joy, not as a place of forgetting what has come and passed, but more to urge us to honor what’s been lost, handle the completely understandable sorrow we SHOULD walk through, and come out the other side stronger for it. That is no cliché folks, that is a FACT and utterly possible when we stand by each other, which is very much exhibited in this film to perfectly appropriate degrees.
Mullins presents a well-rounded, heartfelt performance here through his role as Duncan, an artist whose existence has been shaken to the core by an initially as-of-yet-to-be-revealed circumstance which now brought him to a place of desolation of heart to an extent of closing himself off from his wife who herself is already buried in her own inner conflicts. But, Duncan soon begins to be more open to seeing a light ahead of him IF he allows himself to be taught, challenged positively, and trust again in himself, his wife, and their therapist while finally giving himself a healing sense of grace to grieve but not do so to damaging extents that threaten to further dismantle all he cherishes and desires for the future. It’s one of those skilled, relatable performances that conveys Duncan’s distress but does so with grounded delivery that doesn’t succumb to bordering on or crossing over into melodrama.
In a very similar and equally proficient manner, Davis channels both heart-rending sadness and sometimes subtle but still adamantly fiery resolve through her role here as Maria, Duncan’s wife whose own personal suffering isn’t being tempered in the current time by the one person she needs the most but rather frustratingly fueled to the point of emotional exhaustion. Finally making a stand while still IN the throes of her own despair, Maria is able to assist Duncan in emerging from inner and even outer exile. But, can she ALSO manage to move forward out of the abject and even more deeply acute hurt from the occurrence that’s now so drastically altered their lives is a question to ponder, even as she along with Duncan recollect their past courtship and all that lead to where they find themselves now. As with Mullins, Davis’ performance is an accomplished blend of emotionally realistic and credibly passionate but controlled fervor that serves Maria’s character well and allows us to be sympathetic to what actions she takes to see resolutions arise.
The primary supporting role here comes through Faison’s excellent turn as the couple’s therapist Dr. Wallace Cummings, who takes a wonderfully mastered approach to reach Duncan and provide what manifests into a symbolic and highly meaningful answer to bring Duncan out of his remoteness and reunite the couple in their shared plight in order to see them conquer it and find new levels of, as stated above, hope. Additional supporting appearances are made by Ronda Byers, Devika Patil-Pande, Alexandros Georgiadis, Maria Dede, Avinash Puli, and Emily Georgiadis among others. So, in total, “Permission” is an intentionally uncomplicated yet wholly eloquent and dramatic portrait of what it is to collide with loss and come up against what seems like never-ending hopelessness, but then be able to recognize and ultimately be open to receive the guidance necessary to explore inward deliverance and emancipation from multiple forms of separation in order to then be exposed to the sheer beauty of restorative love, newfound aspiration, and confident expectation.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
