LIE (2015)

The Lie Is That There's A Story

The challenge of creating short movies such as this is having a cohesive story and being able to tell that story in such a short period of time. This short failed in that. It has potential, but it either needs to be a few minutes longer or there needs to be more dialogue. As it is, it just feels very disjointed.

If you weren't aware that the character of Benz had feelings for his roommate and friend Riw going into the movie, the automatic assumption from the beginning is that both boys like Meen and are fighting over her. However, after that initial scene, it becomes clear that Benz actually has feelings for Riw. This is where things start getting disjointed. After leaving for the day and arriving in the wee hours of the morning to find Riw drunk, Benz very nearly kisses him before stopping himself. The following scene appears to be the next day, with Riw apologizing and asking why Benz is mad at him. They have a moment with Riw calling Benz cute and then insisting on feeding him some kind of snack. Meen shows up and looks upset seeing the two of them together. This then jumps to Riw and Meen apparently having a one on one study session and Benz looking on jealously. Riw walks Meen outside and Benz takes the opportunity to hit her with his car.

Again, the potential is there, but besides the disjointed story, the characters feel shallow. I know its hard to create meaningful characters in such a short time frame, but that's part of the challenge. Riw obviously likes Meen and Meen seems to like him too, but what are his feelings towards Benz? Just a roommate? Just friends? There seems like there might be more there, but its hard to tell. And Benz's reaction feels way over the top. There's no buildup to his apparently just snapping. Again, the first scene makes it seem like both he and Riw like Meen. His jealousy needed to be built up and explored a little more to make it believable he would do something so extreme.

In terms of acting, Singto is definitely the star which isn't hard since there are only three actors, but he does stand out. Kanin is pretty bland all around, not a whole lot of expression. This is his first and only acting role though, so I'm willing to cut him some slack. Ink plays a minor role, but despite her lack of screen time, she still managed to be engaging when she was on screen. And as I said, Singto was the stand out he was the most interesting to watch. Part of that is just him, he has an uncanny ability to command the screen with very little effort, but he also seemed to be the one putting in the most work. His acting was more nuanced and while not perfect, this was his first role it seems, he still made an impression, especially that smirk at the end.

The production was obviously low budget. Honestly, the most annoying aspect of it was the camera work. The in and out of focus in the middle of a scene was very distracting. The music, what little there was, was generically boring, but also not overly distracting, so a bonus there, I suppose.

I will say that it's not a waste of time solely because the short is a mere 7 minutes long. I don't regret watching it, but its certainly not what I was expecting or hoping for. As long as you don't have high expectations, it might be moderately entertaining. If nothing else, it's fun to see a young Singto before he got big with SOTUS.

Read More

Singto?

Sebagian orang mungkin akan menonton short film ini karena ada Singto di dalamnya, namun menurutku kalian tidak perlu menontonnya. Mengisahkan Benz (yang diperankan oleh Singto) yang menyukai Riw (pria), di mana Riw sedang mempunyai hubungan dengan Meen (wanita). Ceritanya terlalu singkat dan padat membuat alurnya tidak begitu jelas, selain itu penonton mungkin dianggap sudah mengetahui alur cerita film pendek ini sebelumnya seperti "menerka" kejadian masa lalu mereka, hal ini menjadi sulit karena cerita ini terlalu pendek sehingga kehilangan orientasi cerita. Film ini hanya menampilkan Benz yang menjadi orang ketiga dan membuat Riw selingkuh dari kekasihnya Meen. Cerita selesai dengan ending yang tidak bermakna, ini merupakan opini pribadi. Jika anda berminat untuk menontonnya, saya kira film pendek ini ada di YouTube. Namun saya tidak merekomendasikan anda untuk menontonnya.

Read More