It’s Not You – A Short Film Review
At only 4 minutes long ‘It’s Not You’ manages to tug at your heart-strings as it takes you on an emotional journey of divorce, through the eye’s of a child. While not completely perfect, this short has a lot to offer and can’t help but move its audience.
What’s It All About?
“It’s Not You” follows a young girl’s thinking process after finding out about her parents’ impending divorce. As she travels back to individual moments spent with her family, the girl revisits each happy memory with a different perspective.
My Opinion
For Sophie Peters-Wilson’s first project she has done a fine job. Not only as a director, also as a writer, editor and cinematographer. I usually find that it’s these passion-projects that get the best results. What seems like an extremely simple plot on the surface is actually a very tricky subject and I am sure one many people can relate to it. Sophie Peters-Wilson makes us really feel the emotions of the scenario as this young girl reflects on her memories of her parents, looking at them in a new light as she begins to see the holes in the couples marriage. Sophie has has been able to tread very carefully through this swamp of emotions and give us a touching piece of film. This piece can’t help but move the audience and really make you feel for the young girl going through such a traumatic time.
I really liked the idea to this story. Looking back with the girl at her memories she has of her parents, then seeing for the first time things aren’t as perfect as she liked to remember them. This was a very effective way to tell the story and one that worked very well. The conclusion of the film is extremely effective as we are waiting to hear what the daughter has to say. She gives us the smallest and simplest of words but it manages to tell us a thousand things.
The movie was extremely well shot and put together with some beautiful moments that capture the true enjoyment of a family spending time together. The subtle cuts between the three flashbacks is very effective and all work well together, blending these three memories really helped to hit home the message of how the marriage went wrong, all the time pushing the plot forward. While I am generally not a huge fan of the wobbly hand-cam, I thought that it did work in this movie, mainly as it felt as though you were truly watching these scenes unfold through the eyes of a child.
The only problem I had with this short was with the sound. During the flashback scenes we had an accompanying soundtrack of “It’s Lonely Around People” (Teen Daze Remix) by Mountain Range playing. This piece of music was really nice and very appropriate to the content on-screen, however, rather than complimenting the story I felt as though it was competing against the actors and the dialogue. The music and the speech felt as though they were in competition with one another and a little distracting which did take me out of the story a little, I felt as though I was trying to concentrate on what was being said and blank out the music. I think the best way to counter-balance this would be to lower the volume on the musical score to allow us to hear the speech more clearly, or even better, completely mute the speech and let the actions of the actors carry the story, the speech wouldn’t be needed as the flashbacks could have been told visually.
Notable Cast
Timothy J. Cox gives a powerful performance as the role of the father. His eyes do a great job of telling the story, either by wondering astray at others or looking at himself and reflecting on his actions, the look of remorse he gives us is a powerful one.
Sara Ruth Blake gives an equally emotional performance as the mother. Sara gives a convincing performance as the suspicious wife and devoted mother. He anguish is clear to see as she confronts her husband. She also manages to convey her emotions through her eyes in a very moving display.
Abigail Spitler plays the contemplative daughter in the short. Although Abigail has somewhat less acting to do that the more experienced parents she still puts in a good effort. Her simple ‘OK’ at the conclusion of the short manages to be the most powerful words spoken.
The Verdict
This was a very well structured short that really sent home a powerful message. It was extremely well edited together with some excellent shots and quick cuts. The strong cast make sure that well feel every bit of anguish that the daughter does. The sound issues did cause a slight distraction put does not affect the overall experience. This short film does exactly what it intents to do and does it to a high standard making the message very powerful and moving.
