WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
When we’ve made up our mind that we sincerely know someone through and through, can we still veritably say we know ourselves? The pursuit of satisfying a lonely heart and soul can inevitably take us on a journey of self-discovery and daydreaming, when someone who we’ve connected with via written words alone has captured our imagination and stirred the passion within, giving us hope to finally experience the void being filled. Yet, is the image in our head the reality we encounter? Aeronautical Engineering student David (Felix Martinsson) lives each day at school with both raw, driven, perhaps overworked immersion in the thesis he strives to attain in cooperation with one of his teachers, Professor Durn (Kym Wilson).
Yet, he longs for real human affection, attention, even love, often pining woefully seeing a favorite girl daily with someone else, an unrequited, shyness-burdened yearning. However, his world of solitude is upended upon discovering an application letter stuck in a desk for a woman named Erin (Lily Richards) from London, whom David begins to correspond with via mail, learning about each other, and becoming fast friends. David, though, soon finds himself lost in vision-filled fantasy, vicariously being with Lily through the circumstances her words paint pictures of. But, when one instance causes David to suddenly shun her, time passing brings their composed relationship back around, to the point of David stepping out of his comfort zone to realize a dream. Is it everything he’d hoped for? Is she? Does he even know himself at all?
Next, my Mind:
A bold, well-crafted, character-driven exploration of thematic elements ranging from finding your personal identity, the pangs and yearnings of social seclusion, desire for acceptance and love, the fine line between exceptional effort and obsessive exertion, the perils of thinking we know so much about someone when we may not actually know anything at all, the innate phobias we harbor, the dangers of assumption and blunt realizations found in the revelations it can uncloak, this seventeen minute short from writer/director/executive producer Myles Yaksich carries with it the same levels of humanity, potent drama, and deeply emotional weight as his previous effort, “Poppies”. Willing to address its multi-faceted myriad of topical essences with beautifully written dialogue, smoothly shot cinematography, another emotively effective music score, and affecting realism, the film’s pace and tone are perfectly executed, allowing the viewer to be drawn into one lonely man’s highly compressed circle of heartbreaking uncertainty and awkwardness, which he attempts to keep buried via working overtly hard at the thesis he’s creating, that unexpectedly breaks forth into a ray of hope when finding the catalyst he does that begins to bring him out of his shell and send him on a path of newly formulated excitement that he hopes will ultimately lead to the love of his life.
Where the narrative does wind up delivers one powerfully surprising finale that is part gut-punch, part stirringly impactful. It speaks volumes to how often we as human beings do tend to close ourselves off, whether in the supposed “comfort” and veiled anonymity of the internet and social media or the ebbs and flow of the “escape” that work becomes, more so when we’re unwilling to deal with the inward pain and discontent we face when looking at our lives and where we are vs. where we wish we could be. In allowing this to dominate our thinking, it’s a wonder that we fawn immediately when opportunity presents itself, choosing to dive in with the best of intentions, enjoying a newfound sense of worth and purpose, only to then have set ourselves up for a hard fall if things suddenly take a turn we never saw coming, lost to the wiles of conjecture and speculation rather than at least keeping ones hopes at a manageable degree. Even when we know the unanticipated can happen, we never want to think it will, and the film illustrates this with precision and purposeful poise.
As this critic brings up many a time when it comes to indie cinema, nothing beats an actor bringing a full arsenal to the table when it comes to character-based drama, and Martinsson is no exception to this much looked for rule in his portrayal of David, a man of high education and perhaps a too-dedicated work ethic who’s crippled by the lack of true, interactive social skills, mainly when it comes to his yearning heart. Constantly seeing a particular couple on campus, unavailability of the girl for himself only drives David deeper into hiding emotionally and to find solace in his thesis work under the guidance of a like-minded professor who pushes him to excel. But when he finds the application letter lost in the shuffle from a girl named Erin, the pen pal-based connection they establish brings David an elation and jolt of expectation that sends him reeling into a controlled yet impassioned euphoric state of mind as he envisions Erin and time spent with her when reading responses she sends him. When their connection takes a hit, the road back leads to an encounter that will forever change David’s notions about how he thinks and who he is, and Martinsson just soars on inspired wings with a performance that is totally accessible and believable throughout.
For the primary co-starring turns here, there is Wilson as David’s thesis partner and teacher Professor Durn, a woman of equal intelligence and focused drive who more than desires to see one of her, we gather, star pupils exceedingly successful and likewise focused on their task at hand. Still, she sees his mentally and physically exhausted state, them the increasingly erratic loss of direction and moments of inattentiveness that soon have her encouraging him to take the steps he needs to when it comes to Erin, as she can clearly ascertain the effect she’s had on him. Wilson’s performance is delivered with full vigor and earnest grace. Richards also shines with both her natural physical beauty and her almost haunting silent presence as Erin, the woman of David’s dreams who only appears as such for most of the time until the larger reveal produced in the film’s finale. She’s a woman of substance, heart, ambitions, determination, and independence who treasures David’s friendship, his words helping her through some hard circumstances. When the time comes that David and Erin’s paths intersect, it’s a truth about supposition and acceptance that’s genuine, painful, and grounded. Richards does such a wonderful job at giving a primarily dialogue-free character a compelling voice.
Supporting appearances arrive from Hector Moss playing a pivotal role in a brief but poignant and intense sequence, along with Claire Bermingham as a woman David has a less than fun interplay with at a local bar, Joe Mahany as the bartender at said establishment, Josie Stevik & Kent Navarrette as the couple David seems to be consumed over at school, and Tilda Rohlander as a woman David thinks might be his pined after girl in London. In total, “Erin” stands as more than a worthy second effort from Yaksich, who clearly aims to keep the focus on elegantly constructed character dramas that touch the heart, challenge the mind with their concepts, and cause us to realize just how human we really are, which for this critic are some of the most important hallmarks that makes indie cinema the still-hidden but steadily rising gem that it is.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
