Yeah, Love – A Short Film Review
Romantic teen comedy drama’s are not something new but Becca Roth gives us something refreshing and breathes new life into this sub-genre that every adult and teen can relate to.
What’s It All About?
“Yeah, Love” is a coming-of-age drama about a shy high school girl named Emmily who has an obsessive crush on an older female student called Milo. At first the awkward teenager struggles with who she is. A trip to the guidance counselor doesn’t help matters and leaves Emmily to try and work her life out for herself. A chance meeting with Milo in the park gives Emmily the hope, confidence and strength to break out from her shy shell and be proud about who she is, but does Milo feel the same way?
My Opinion
I really enjoyed this short film. It was hard to believe that this was the debut short for Becca Roth as a writer and director. Becca manages to give us a simple, straight forward and well put together film that demonstrates her talents as a filmmaker.
The story itself is very well put together. What I liked about it was how it felt very natural, nothing was forced and the audience was not guided. This is simply a story about teenagers and love, the gender of the characters is unimportant.
As Emmily is the main character she is given plenty of development and the internal narration we receive throughout the film are the thoughts running through her head. This is a very effective way of helping the audience to understand what is going on with Emmily. Form sarcastic comments to questioning herself, these narrations really help establish what or how Emily is feeling. What makes this character so accessible is that she is so relate-able with the usual teenage problems of an embarrassing dad or a high-school crush. These are traits that everyone has had through their school years and these are presented realistically here.
The other characters are all given the right amount of development needed for us to buy into them. We do have our usual suspects of high school tropes that allow us to easily categorize them without needing too much development. Milo is the popular girl who everyone likes, Toby is the high-school jock and Emmily is the awkward girl who doesn’t fit in.
Not only has Becca given us a an interesting set of characters, but she has given us a story that is witty, moving and emotional. On a subject such as this it is quite easy to get bogged down in emotions, turning the short into an overly serious film, but Becca does a brilliant job of keeping it light-hearted and entertaining with some fantastic scenes. Some of my favorite include Emmily on the train with a lecherous passenger who is constantly trying to pick her up. When she finally tells him “I’m a lesbian”, his reaction is priceless. Other entertaining scenes include Emmily talking to the audience about how she spends her “weekends partying”, “putting effort into her appearance” and “watching what she eats” while we are showing a montage of clips which show that Emmily is being flexible with her descriptions.
I also enjoyed the soundtrack. The choice of songs used throughout the short were very appropriate and complimented the scenes nicely.
The only real issue I had with the film was a technical one. The picture quality was not the best and it did feel like I was watching this on an old VHS tape. Fortunately this does not take anything away from the story or the viewing experience and it still allowed me to fully enjoy the short. I am not sure what caused this problem but being that this was made in 2008 one possible answer is that the technology used was not up to the standards that we get today, another could be the budget did not allow for better quality equipment. Fortunately this does effect the audience from watching and enjoying the film.
Notable Cast
Crystal Franceschini played Emmily. I found Crystal extremely relate-able and very easy to like. She did an amazing job playing the character and her performance felt very natural. The narration Crystal provided for Emmily was very fitting to the character, some of he screams and other noises were great. However, it was the emotional side of things which really elevated her performance. Crystal did a flawless job of battling with her own inner emotions as we are shown Emmily accepting who she is and then the disappointment of Toby getting hold of her letter to Milo. I was completely bought into the character and fully believed the events playing out in front of me which is thanks to the acting abilities of Crystal, she makes light work of such a complex character.
Paton Ashbrook played Milo. I really liked Paton’s performance. She came across very well on camera. Although she was limited with her dialogue she had some excellent scenes with Emmily. I liked how she was able to show how she was battling with her emotions in the final third of the film as the lacrosse players were making fun of Emily. She was able to show her inner torment without having to say a word. A great performance.
Timothy J. Cox played Emily’s father. Timothy did a fantastic job of playing a strong, but caring father figure. I liked how he always seemed to be trying to do the best for his daughter to make her happy. His finest scene came when he was comforting her after she took a phone call from Toby and his friends. I enjoyed how he uses his comedic timing where appropriate, giving a jolly feel to this likable character. A brilliant turn from Timothy.
The Verdict
Yeah, Love is a superb debut from a clearly talented filmmaker in Becca Roth. A strong cast help her to turn a vision into a reality, putting in some fine performances that do this brilliant story justice. A simple, yet powerful tale brought to life. This is one of those short films that is accessible to everyone. There is something everybody can take away from this coming-of-age drama.
