Black Swell
2016 · 9m · USA
Directed by Jake Honig
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tense
A desperate man attempts to take his own life in a motel room, while in the adjacent room, a young man who once knew him is oblivious to what's unfolding next door.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A Richard Kind suicide drama where the whole point is that the person who might have saved him is literally on the other side of a motel wall — structural cruelty as filmmaking philosophy, and I respect the commitment.
Honig withholds the suicidal character's interior entirely and tracks the tragedy through relational absence — a remarkably mature structural decision for a debut, and Richard Kind grounds it. Quietly excellent.
Withholding the suicidal character's interiority entirely and tracking the tragedy through the man next door who doesn't know — Richard Kind is a powerful anchor. Nine minutes of relational absence as form.
Reviews
The simple but yet incredibly profound story leaves the viewers in a thought-provoking state of shock with its rattling and unexpected conclusion.
Festivals
- Slamdance Film Festival 2016
- Hamptons International Film Festival 2016, Suffolk County Award
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2016
- Florida Film Festival 2016