I initially gave this movie a 4/10 and wrote a review that argued that while the premise of the short was interesting; the execution of it was brought down by the caricatural depiction of the issue. It felt like the slogan All Cops Are Bastard made into a movie, but without nuance. And without the understanding of how bad and reductive it is to boil down a rather intricate issue into a four word slogan.
Then I read about and subsequently watched Groundhog Day For A Black Man. It is an excellent four minutes video, that is well made, to the point and most importantly funny and creative. It had the social commentary, the political message, yet, it focuses on the absurdity of the situation. It is peak comedy, as it takes a regular issue and exaggerates and extrapolates it to the extreme over the top ridicule. And, in that deformed reality where nothing makes sense anymore it finds the essence of the issue, it finds some sort of truth. It is fun, it is clever and it gets its point across elegantly.
This Two Distant Strangers is a plagiarized version of that video. But worse.
It is worse in every aspect. The only good addition is the scene where Carter decides not to venture outside, yet he still gets killed when the cops barge in the wrong appartement. That was clever and well extablished. The rest of it was blunt and poorly though-out.
It follows a time-loop structure, but why really? There is no character growth or different outcomes. There is no added texture with each iteration. There are no new angles or inputs throughout the short. The protagonist does not really try different strategies or various scenarios. This short is just a repetitive exercise with the outcome being the same whatever the circumstances. It uses the time-loop as a figurative hell, to symbolise that with every innocent bystander that gets murdered, black people re-live the same event over and over. I do not think that it is that clever or powerful. Black-ish already showed it and expressed it way better. I think this is an abuse of the time-loop trope and it is insulting how blunt and condescending this short is.
Moreover, this short, in a typical viral clickbait website fashion, exhibits an over-emphasis on violence, which I personally find disturbing. Not the violence itself, but the fetishization of it. The gruesomeness of the scenes, the repetitiveness, are intended to oversaturate you sense and provoke disgust. But, the length to which they do it point to an unhealthy fascination that feels manipulative more than anything else. At one moment, someone suggests that the antagonists should talk to each other. They try, but it immediately reverts to brutal violence anyway. It would be sick if it would not be comically absurd.
You end up with a short that is very superficial, and has nothing to offer but a bitter and cynical worldview. If you put aside the style and the message, the difference with Groundhog Day For A Black Man and why it is superior to this, is that it offered redemption. It had empathy. This short is devoid of it.
Then I read about and subsequently watched Groundhog Day For A Black Man. It is an excellent four minutes video, that is well made, to the point and most importantly funny and creative. It had the social commentary, the political message, yet, it focuses on the absurdity of the situation. It is peak comedy, as it takes a regular issue and exaggerates and extrapolates it to the extreme over the top ridicule. And, in that deformed reality where nothing makes sense anymore it finds the essence of the issue, it finds some sort of truth. It is fun, it is clever and it gets its point across elegantly.
This Two Distant Strangers is a plagiarized version of that video. But worse.
It is worse in every aspect. The only good addition is the scene where Carter decides not to venture outside, yet he still gets killed when the cops barge in the wrong appartement. That was clever and well extablished. The rest of it was blunt and poorly though-out.
It follows a time-loop structure, but why really? There is no character growth or different outcomes. There is no added texture with each iteration. There are no new angles or inputs throughout the short. The protagonist does not really try different strategies or various scenarios. This short is just a repetitive exercise with the outcome being the same whatever the circumstances. It uses the time-loop as a figurative hell, to symbolise that with every innocent bystander that gets murdered, black people re-live the same event over and over. I do not think that it is that clever or powerful. Black-ish already showed it and expressed it way better. I think this is an abuse of the time-loop trope and it is insulting how blunt and condescending this short is.
Moreover, this short, in a typical viral clickbait website fashion, exhibits an over-emphasis on violence, which I personally find disturbing. Not the violence itself, but the fetishization of it. The gruesomeness of the scenes, the repetitiveness, are intended to oversaturate you sense and provoke disgust. But, the length to which they do it point to an unhealthy fascination that feels manipulative more than anything else. At one moment, someone suggests that the antagonists should talk to each other. They try, but it immediately reverts to brutal violence anyway. It would be sick if it would not be comically absurd.
You end up with a short that is very superficial, and has nothing to offer but a bitter and cynical worldview. If you put aside the style and the message, the difference with Groundhog Day For A Black Man and why it is superior to this, is that it offered redemption. It had empathy. This short is devoid of it.