Short Film Review

Film Info:
Paul copes with his social anxiety by taking pictures of people; but he can't photograph Mathilde, the one he's
fallen for.

Written By: Janis Munz
Directed By: Janis Munz
Genre: Romance
10 Minutes

IndyRed.com

TAKE MY PICTURE ( 2014 )

  Take My Picture held a lot more fascination than I expected for such a short film, telling the interesting story of a young photographer with mild social anxiety. It features an excellent, low-key narrative and earns it's marks without resorting to gimmicky camera tricks or catch phrases. And yet, as I watched, I couldn't help but to continually think of an old friend who suffered a similar social awkwardness; bringing me from the film to my own thoughts numerous times. I'm pretty sure that's a good thing though, as it proved Take My Picture could be more than just a short film to watch and forget. By the same reasoning however, I had to watch it twice.
  The technical aspects presented here are mostly good in my opinion; my main, personal complaint being the excessive amount of filters used in post production. At least, that's what they looked like to me. Writer / Director Janis Munz has washed her short film in a sepia tone, which by itself works great for this piece. It's the filters and vignettes that kept drawing me out of Paul's world, or at the very least kept me looking at anything except the focal point of the shot. Not really a big deal and never so much as to be considered bad, just a small thing that I happened to notice. On the plus side, the editing was done well, moving the narrative forward and the lensing, both standard and seemingly handheld, mixed together very nicely. I personally enjoyed the mix of narration, and Paul's few instances of breaking the fourth wall. This was all done very well and had a huge impact on the showing of the film. In a positive way.
  I would liked to have seen more than a hint of things to come for Paul and Mathilde. Ricky Faust and Ariana Lonescu did a fantastic job bringing these characters to life, using mainly gestures and looks over words. Having the short end, right when it felt like it was just starting felt a little like being short changed. All in all this was an entertaining piece and definitely a short film that stands out from the crowd.
-MC

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