Two Distant Strangers | Short Film Review

 

I'm trying not to give my thoughts away in my intro, but to be honest I wasn't sure when to upload this because I don't really want to talk about it, in the current climate or otherwise. But I saw it, I wrote some notes, and it won an Oscar. So I thought that I might as well share my thoughts before everyone forgets about it.

This is the story of a black man who gets stuck in a time-loop that involves a confrontation with a white police officer that results in his death. 

If my intro wasn't that clear, I didn't like this short film. In fact, if it had been a feature-length film, I would never have watched it. But because it was only half an hour, I thought I could probably handle it.

Now what I will say is that I enjoyed this take on the time-loop premise. I've reviewed a few time-loop movies recently, and it's a concept I like when it's done in an original way, and this was original.

I also really liked the protagonist, Carter James, played by Joey Bada$$. He's a really endearing, great character, and it's a shame that he wasn't in a film that would allow us to really get to know and love him.

However, I don't understand the intention behind this film - who was it made for and why? Because the only intention I can see would be to maybe show people the stark realities of police brutality. And while I get that, I don't think this film was the best way to do that.

Because the thing is, this film presents its audience with a huge problem that is currently happening in the world today, and then it just shrugs its shoulders and says 'oh well, nothing we can do about it'. Or even worse, it says 'well, black people just have to keep trying, again and again and again'. So as I already asked, who was this for?  

It was really ambitious to attempt what this film attempts with a half hour runtime, but to do the topic justice, it really does need to be longer. Everything in the film felt like it was done for shock factor rather than realism.  

And one of the reasons for that is the ending. I don't know if I've ever been more disappointed with the end of a film. There was so much that the film could have said, and I feel like it chose to say nothing.

I am completely tired of films that live or die based on the distress of black people. I get that sometimes, for some films, it may be necessary. But for me personally, I've had enough. One of the reasons that I haven't reviewed the film 'Antebellum' is because of this. If there was an equal proportion of films that see black people in happy situations - or even sad situations that have nothing to do with race - it would be fine. But because the market of black movies is saturated by black distress, it's exhausting. And this film wasn't an exception. As a black person who watches the news and knows what's going on in the world, the last thing I want to watch is a film where a black man gets killed by the police over and over and over again with no way out. 

Overall, I'm disappointed for what this film could have been, and I think it drained the last bit of patience I had for black trauma on film. Which isn't to say that I'll never watch anything with black trauma at the centre, but for now, I'm just tired of it.

3/10 - 1.5 for the original premise and the attempt, 1.5 for the character of Carter, who was written well.