Easily my favorite of all the live action shorts of 2014 is Xavier Legrand's "Avant Que De Tout Perdre" (Just Before Losing Everything), one of the tensest and most unsettling short films I've seen in a while. Punctuated throughout the live action shorts special are interviews with acclaimed directors that detail the filmmaking process when it comes to shorts and even director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) says it's never about length but about intelligence and if you have a good idea in a short amount of time and exercise it with real thought then you'll have a great short. Through the use of what one could call real-time shooting (where everything happens as if it would in real life), Legrand gives us a story that we learn more and more about over time and nothing is immediately spelled out for us through the use of cheap dialog. The short opens with a young boy walking to school before being stopped by a teacher driving to school telling him to hurry up. Instead, he goes underneath a bridge to play near a creek before being picked up by his mom who is flying down the streets of France in her vehicle. After picking up the boy's older sister, they arrive at the mother's place of employment, which mirrors the appearance of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. In the office, she talks with her boss about how she needs to press charges against her husband and that she's leaving town tonight. The boss fires her, allowing her to receive her severance package. Things get even more hectic when the husband arrives at the store, asking his wife's friend to speak to her immediately. What unfolds is something of a cat-and-mouse thriller, in one particular setting, with one goal in mind - getting out of the store. The short is consistently tense, providing for a greatly unsettling experience that toys with ones emotions in such a bold and unexpected way. Furthermore, it's also interesting to take note of the young male actor, Milgan Chatelain, whose character is shown telling coworkers about the horrors his mother has faced in a frighteningly casual manner, showing how he almost considers these events as normalcy. Legrand has made a gripping and pervasively unsettling short that should guarantee him a future feature-length project in no time.
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StevePulaski26 February 2014
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Today I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated Live Action films. This was a very unusual year because I don't see any clear winner nor did I see any film I disliked. Oddly, however, I didn't see any I loved either and picking the winner is amazingly difficult.
Of all the nominees, "Just Before Losing Everything" was one that created the strongest desire to scream at the screen! This is NOT a complaint--just my gut reaction as I watched the film. When I explain the plot a bit, I think you'll understand.
The film is a real enigma during the first few minutes--and I really commend the filmmakers for making the film this way and building the suspense like they did. A young boy is not walking towards school like he should. His teacher (at least that's who you assume it is) comments on this and the boy says he's going to school after he finished an errand. However, instead he hides under a bridge. A bit later, a car horn honks and the kid runs and hops in the vehicle! Who is the woman driving?! Is she a child molester? Is he being kidnapped?! What is happening?! A bit later, the pair stop and a teenage girl reluctantly leaves her boyfriend at a bus stop and she, too, gets into the car. Now I was REALLY confused. Was this some sort of gang? Were they going to rob a bank? Fortunately, the film made a lot of sense once you realize that she's a battered wife and these are her kids! But these kids are unusual--because they, too, want no part of their father. He's an animal--the lowest sort of human being. See the film and you'll understand.
What I didn't understand and never understand is how women (and sometime men) in situations like this so often don't call the police. The husband was clearly SUPER-dangerous in "Just Before Losing Everything" but I do not fault the filmmakers. I actually think they were clearly saying that you SHOULD call the police and showed just how dangerous leaving would be without their support. I just know I kept sitting in my set hoping someone would call and the film definitely made my pulse quicken. An excellent film. -
zetes23 February 2014From France, Lea Drucker stars as a woman who has decided to take her kids and leave her abusive husband once and for all. This is a good suspense piece, with the director building that suspense through some nice long takes. Still, one thought kept running through my mind: this whole situation could have easily been avoided had the woman just called the cops. This is even mentioned by her coworkers, but Drucker simply dismisses it with "I don't have time." It kind of bugged me (and the annoying woman behind me, who kept whispering loudly to her husband, "Why doesn't she just call the cops?"). It also cheats several times to enhance the suspense, taking away from the realistic situation.