Short Film Review “Blowing Up” The trials of loss, grief, and boiling points being reached get addressed with forthright drama and unexpected humor
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
First, the Recap:
The seemingly endless void that is grief. It starts with the moment in which we experience something which impacts us so deeply, usually associated with loss, that a hole opens up within us and we fall. Far. The aftermath of this tends to be prolonged exposure to our own sense of hopelessness, though admittedly by our own CHOICE to be frank, causing the kind of inward separation from all else around us to the extent help doesn’t appear to be an option, but rather just further despair. When others then become swallowed up by it as well….what will the outcome end up being?
It is Janine’s (Maria Todero) 30th birthday. A time that should be celebrated, or at least treated with humorous purpose in seeing one’s 20’s fade away to oblivion. However, even with the efforts of boyfriend Scott (Don-Dimitri Joseph) and best friend Miranda (Danielle Rodd), will this day actually hold anything joyful? You see, Janine is engulfed in the harsh, wholly debilitating throes of grief due to a tragic, personally crippling hardship that has lingered, with the pressure of it all building and building and building. Is it too much to bear any longer?
Next, my Mind:
To start, let’s make sure one fact is made indisputably clear….mental health, dealing with true anguish, and finding the means to believe we WILL come out of the figurative chasm that’s imprisoned us through loss is not remotely easy nor any laughing matter. Next, may it ALSO be evident that HOW each and every person DOES choose to make attempts at coping with this depth of adversity is NOT some “one size fits all” solution. To respect, support, not invalidate, or treat with annoyed disdain those we might know who’ve been in this place of abject struggle is imperative, EVEN when we ourselves may have been hurt by them along the painful road they’re traveling. Yes, it’s difficult when we see someone we love and cherish at this magnitude of ongoing burden, especially when it IS often self-imposed. Yet, should this therefore mean, as REAL friends and loved ones, that it should drive us to be there MORE for the requisite healing being sought?
I preface this review as such, because when it comes to the new 24-minute indie short film arriving from writer/director A.J. Fitzgerald plus executive producers Tequisha Hendrickson, Lovely Jones, Don-Dimitri Joseph, and Danielle Zito, the excellence of independent cinema is once more on display with potent and compelling force. Taking subject matters as stated above that are as unflinchingly provocative, emotionally heavy, unavoidably serious, and utterly necessary in our contemporary times and, yes, delivering them with expected, wrenchingly candid drama but then ALSO intertwining darkly comedic moments on top of the film’s metaphorical, symbolic, and literal illustrations of how we act when immersed IN such volatility…it’s quite simply BRILLIANT. There is NO disrespect towards ANYONE suffering under these circumstances at all, but there IS a fearless defiance of convention in the manner which this film is executed. I say…BRAVO!
The narrative that follows a newly “turned 30” young woman in the chains of paralyzing grief whose friends are being isolated and whose life itself is falling apart under the ever-present, threatening-to-boil over-tension FROM those around her who just DON’T truly understand, much less recognize or acknowledge the pain in any constructive way, it is a brutally honest lesson IN the sheer overwhelming level of pent-up anger, resentment, and desperation for genuine compassion someone buried in this state of being feels. But, the film isn’t shying away from the truth that WE can also BE the architects of our own misery when not being willing to RELEASE it, either, while also having an openness to ACCEPT HELP that those who surround us most closely have been trying to provide. This isn’t a disservice or negating the loss we are confronting, as it WILL be within us forever in some form. There ARE, though, things that can aid in our moving THROUGH it.
What makes this film work in having us encounter all of this emotively-charged and viscerally impactful thematic core is the means by which Fitzgerald has both exaggerated certain elements of the narrative and its content FOR more (again, darkly) witty instances while still maintaining the overall more serious dramatic facets and messaging the film carries. Again, I found it a stroke of genius as to this style of writing and direction for the story, with the aforementioned willingness to go far beyond “standard” fare and choosing instead to be original and fresh while doing full justice to the themes being explored. Visually, the film also utilizes one of the most clever devices to showcase the entire concept of someone crumbling, yet also being on the verge of exploding, under the weight of a longstanding period of constantly developing, expanding, burning emotional upheaval, that I’ve personally witnessed. And IT WORKS superbly well. Watch and see.
How the film then brings us to the ultimate culmination of this is heartrending in its full-on, unapologetically tear-inducing, still tangibly stormy significance that DOES convey what’s really MOST important when we comprehend the liberation from it all someone finally gets to feel….HOPE and inward restoration. Todero is an affecting and just heartbreakingly vulnerable picture of one person’s despair followed by deliverance in an equally stirring manner through her performance as Janine, a now 30-year old whose birthday is anything but smooth sailing much less any kind of happy. As she makes every effort to go about her routines, all those around her who believe they are trying to help really only end up adding to Janine’s fractured mindset and inner turmoil until it all just arrives at critical mass. How she navigates events from this point is what makes the film’s messages STICK, and Todero is a consummate force of nature through this performance.
Joseph plays Scott, Janine’s HIGHLY patient boyfriend whose endeavors to bring his beloved back to a more healthy place may have finally runs its course, though his standing by her still appears sincere. The beleaguered reality in which Scott has resided, longer than initially realized, is deftly enacted here by Joseph, an “everyman” stuck in an abyss of another’s stress and affliction. Rodd likewise shines in her role as Miranda, Janine’s best friend who, like Scott, has sadly reached the end of her own rope when it comes to trying to assist and be there for someone she used to be linked at the hip with. Now frustrated beyond measure, Miranda may become a voice of contention rather than comfort, with Rodd’s performance infused with fervent energy and raw emotion that perfectly befits the narrative’s course.
Tenaya Cleveland assuredly makes her presence felt with an intentionally, and quite hilariously, over-the-top performance as Janine’s boss, Dolly, who needless to say has her own….unique, conspicuously awkward, and totally ignorant….way to address the behavior Janine has hung onto for far too long, at least in Dolly’s crazily uninformed opinion. It’s a masterclass in comedic timing and delivery, with Cleveland milking every moment with what this critic felt was a delicious glee. Plus her final moment on screen at the end of the film is rather nuts as well! Primary supporting turns are made by Melanie Miranda as the unfortunate server who waits on Janine’s dysfunctional table during what is supposed to be a celebratory birthday dinner, and Aleesha Flow (via voice only) as the Smart Speaker device at Janine’s apartment that brings forth mostly unwanted, but then one HUGELY cathartic, recorded messages.
Additional appearances are made by A.J. Fitzgerald, Connor Gaffney, Rich Lewis IV, Darius Devontaye Green, Anaya Martin, Jephry Milloy, Dinesha Haynes, Seth Hyden, Stephanie D. Marshall, Bianca Re’zine Williams, Christopher Huff, Chante Jean B, James Lee Clerveaux, and Unique Randolf. So, in total, “Blowing Up” is a paints a definitively persuasive, unwaveringly powerful, emphatically blunt, beautifully achieved tapestry that guides us through the actualities of grief and loss but in a fashion that allows for solemnity tempered with a dose of silliness without compromising its intent. One hopes this film will be another catalyst for raising far more awareness to a serious subject and that it prompts those who battle depression to realize “YOU ARE NOT ALONE” while promoting better realization, contemplation, and actions on our part to BE THERE for those in need. Steadfast kindness, patience, and real support to nurture and heal.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
