Name: 8 Seconds
Genre: Short
Released: 2010-06-28
Duration: 2 min
Cast: Haruka Abe, Simon Burbage

Has good aspects but the heavy score and clunky dialogue dominate it

Two young people sit on the edge of a fountain. "Isn't time funny?" muses Yumiko to her former partner Darren and she consider how long it can take to remember people but yet how little time it takes to forget them and, as she counts that time out, we get flashbacks to their relationship.

There is a nice idea behind this short film and I liked that it gave you a lot in that 8 seconds of time that the main character spells out. The device is that we have a flashback for each so we understand why there is a certain sadness and reflection in Yumiko's tone, but why ultimately she is making that decision to "forget". It isn't totally clear what status their relationship is at when we start the film, beyond that they have known each other for 3 years and haven't seen each other for a month, but the film suggests they have "stayed friends" after their relationship ended in hurt.

To focus on what the film does well, it uses its 6 or so flashbacks reasonably well as we do understand the relationship from those brief flashes. I also liked that the lead actress was able to feel those stages and show them on her face – not that she reacted to each one, but her initial friendliness sort of fades through to acceptance and a hint of melancholy in a way that is convincing. It is a good choice to focus on her doing this because the rest of the film is not as well done as this aspect of Abe's performance.

The tone of the film is a big barrier for me. Maybe if you like the "delicate tinkle of beauty" score then it will work and move you, but for me it felt like it was pushing the reflective sadness emotion of the piece in a way it didn't need. I would have prefer less or no music – let the character do the work. The second problem is that the dialogue is clunky; okay we have to move fast but the initial conversation between the two characters is clunky and it is awkward to get where we need to get. Abe may cope with the emotion but she struggles to sell that jump into reflection in the first place. Burbage doesn't get the chance to do much and as a result is clunky – not sure why but his dialogue and is presence is stiff where there really needed to be more of a natural air between the two, which there wasn't.

Unfortunately it is the stiffness combined with the heavy "feel this way now" score that dominates the film. I did like the structure and the way the camera stays in close on the hands and face to put the viewer in the middle of the relationship while also letting the lead character add to the flashbacks by showing a shift in her emotions, but that heavy music and clunk to the delivery early on really limits it.

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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8 Seconds

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