Clocking in around 7 minutes, Dustin Lance Black‘s El SMS (The Text for those who can’t roll their Rs) is a sweet bit of filmmaking. It’s also a commercial for Coca Cola, who has initiated a series of short films focusing on true friendship (and drinking cokes while being best pals, of course). This entry tells the story of two young boys, competitive in all ways, whose friendship is put to the test in a single moment when one of them reads the other’s text messages.
It’s a hearty set up, but there’s genuine tension in the delivery, built on an early conversation about keeping secrets and the tacit understanding of what might happen if the one boy’s secret reaches the ears of the rest of their crew. When the moment comes, Black is smart to frame it physically — as a wrestling match where the other boys dog pile in order to see what has shocked one of the leaders of their ranks. It’s a nice bit of subtlety in what could have been a completely twee tug on heartstrings.
Even though corporate machinations demand a smiley face on projects like this, it’s impressive that Black was able to pull off a short film that could have ended very differently. The emotions are big and broad here, but the structure lets your imagination run.
It also looks great, which is no real surprises. The camera is in hang out mode, putting us in the same space as the boys playing video games and trading snaps, and the entire visual tone is anchored by a close-up shot on young feet pounding metal stairs to get to their living room club house — an echo of the metaphor of youth rushing to escape youth.
While it doesn’t really make me thirsty, it makes me happy to see a short story like this told this well.
0 comments:
Post a Comment