directed by:
Reynaldo Dumas written by: Reynaldo Dumas genre: Drama |
Feelings and emotions, they bring out both the best and worst a human being is capable of offering. It's these feelings and emotions that define us - long before wisdom and foresight temper these roller coaster actions of the heart. Mistakes of passion are, however, quite needed as without ever traveling down different roads, there's no baseline for the tempered mind to follow. Actions and consequences are the treasure map of who a person becomes. Right and wrong don't amount to much without a moral compass to follow, and that compass can only point the way if it has the experience to back it.
And yet, most adults still know right from wrong - they especially know the golden rule of dating, relationships, and marriage. If married, don't mess around at all but no matter what the marital situation may be, don't ever fool around with siblings. It's never a good idea at the best of times. In Reynaldo Dumas' short film, we get a taste of just that - a married man cheating with the sister of his wife. Brigitte is moving into her new place with the help of her sister Lisa and her husband. Things are going well until Lisa gets an emergency call into work, leaving her hubby to continue with the heavy lifting seems obvious. We are talking about her sister - what could possibly happen? And then... it happens. Lisa's sister and husband Aaron share a kiss before being interrupted, and that's where I'll leave the plot description. Want to know more? You'll simply have to find out for yourself. From a production standpoint, "Moving-In-Law" may be a really short film, but that doesn't mean it can't look and sound good for its brief run. It's all here, good shots, good sound, and a more than competent pacing highlighting some great work from its three actors. There was never a moment I remember looking cheap or off in some way, but that leads to my one major complaint about this film. There just didn't seem to be enough moments in general.
Who doesn't love a good short film? It all comes down to not having to invest a lot of time, leaving you to either love it or hate it. However, we still want to see a story reach some kind of conclusion and we still want to feel like something has been said - and that doesn't really happen here. "Moving-In-Law" feels unfinished, maybe even rushed at the end. We get to see the dirty deed taking place, but there's never an emotional engagement from anyone onscreen - thus never one for us either. I'm not completely sure what Reynaldo Dumas' end game was here, was the ending meant to add some form of comedy? The slightly overdramatic emotions over a broken glass, after what we just witnessed, seems to hint at a ha-ha moment. Yet I just don't feel that was the intention - perhaps I'm wrong? When the fat lady sings her song and the credits roll, "Moving-In-Law" despite its odd conclusion was still above average, and still had a story to tell. Maybe simply pointing out bad behavior was all this short flick aimed to do. However, it's not like I invested 90 minutes of my time for such an ambiguous conclusion. For what it is and how it played across my screen, I have no problems at all awarding a flat out three stars. There's entertainment here, just not a fitting conclusion in my books. |
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