MOVIE OVERVIEW
Can You Relate is a series of short films presented by the Vancouver International Film Festival that asks the very question in its title – Can you relate to what you see? Although there were seven shorts viewed during this presentation, two of them stood out in particular.
GROUNDED
Have you ever felt like life itself was conspiring to make you fail at something that meant a great deal to you? Grounded (titled Au Sol) is the perfect embodiment of this experience. The cinematography, acting, and message were all crystal clear without any room for doubt, ensuring that the audience knows exactly what they’re experiencing without needing to treat it as a metaphor to decipher.
Grounded takes you, the viewer, through the short journey of a mother with her baby who needs to attend the funeral of her own mother. The obstacle? Airport regulations. Cursed with forgetting the baby’s identification, the mother faces an unwavering airline clerk who simply cites job security as a reason why she couldn’t do more. It takes the efforts of another airline clerk to go above and beyond for making sure this woman gets on her plane and you are guaranteed to be taken on an emotional ride throughout it all.
THE BLACK BUTTERFLIES
This short takes a more metaphorical approach to its presentation. For those who have suffered or are suffering from depression, it can be a surreal experience that not many can understand. The Black Butterflies intends to express the difficulty of living with such a burden, and also how easily it can be remedied with the right circumstances. While not overly emotional, the subject matter is expressed in just the right way that your attention is captured the whole way through.