Crack Shot
2023 · 15m · USA
Directed by Alex Cohen
Tones: tense
Justin Huang, a former elite junior squash national champion now coaching kids at his local club, is approached by a wealthy father with a lucrative offer to exclusively train his son. As Justin agrees, he becomes entangled in a toxic father-son dynamic that forces him to confront his own buried demons about the sport.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Squash Whiplash. The 'first squash narrative on the festival circuit' brag is exactly the kind of niche-sport prestige bait that bores me, but the rigorous camera grammar — locked-down to handheld to outside-the-glass — at least sounds earned.
Whiplash transposed to the squash court, with cinematography that locks down before unraveling into handheld intimacy — a formal gesture I respect more than the somewhat familiar mentor-as-toxic-patriarch arc. The Short of the Week framing suggests competence rather than revelation.
Cinematographer Freddie Whitman actually learned squash to shoot it — that's why the camera grammar evolves from locked-down distance to handheld intimacy and then retreats outside the glass; only 11K views means it's flying under the radar but the craft choice is exactly the kind of physical-intelligence work I respect.
Reviews
You don't need to be a squash regular to appreciate Crack Shot, as the basic themes of the story are easily relatable and the stellar production means the action is utterly hypnotic.
Highly entertaining, thoughtful and contextually relevant and relatable.
Festivals
- Poppy Jasper International Film Festival 2023
- Dam Short Film Festival 2024
- Canberra Short Film Festival 2024
- Coronado Island Film Festival 2023