Shadow Brother Sunday
2023 · 15m · USA
Directed by Alden Ehrenreich
Tones: darkly comic, tense
A down-on-his-luck musician returns to his family home on the day of his younger brother's movie premiere, planning to steal his computer and sell it to the paparazzi. What unfolds is a tense, heist-like family drama about sibling rivalry and resentment.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Alden Ehrenreich making his nepo-debut on 35mm with Coppola EP-ing — this is the most Hollywood thing in the chunk. The premise is fine, the surrounding apparatus is the eye-roll.
Ehrenreich's directorial debut shot on 35mm with Coppola executive producing carries pedigree, though one detects an actor's instinct for character over visual signature. The Shiva Baby comparison is the right reach.
Ehrenreich's directorial debut shot on 35mm with Francis Ford Coppola exec producing, 15:04, full A-list crew including Mary Vernieu casting — that's not a hobby short, that's a calling-card built like a feature. The heist-into-family-drama pivot is exactly the kind of tonal challenge 35mm forces you to commit to.
Reviews
Ehrenreich masterfully builds palpable unease, turning interruptions into something nerve-racking and cringe-inducing — how the filmmaker imbues the homely environment with so much familial unease is reminiscent of Emma Seligman's Shiva Baby.
Alden Ehrenreich crafts a tight, tense debut short film — a superb 15-minute gem about the twisting turns of brotherly love that combines elements of Shakespearean tragedy with contemporary family drama.
Festivals
- Tribeca Film Festival 2023
- Indy Shorts International Film Festival 2023, Directorial Debut Award
- Charlotte Film Festival 2023, Best Narrative Short Film
- Cordillera International Film Festival 2023, Best Drama Short Film
- Salute Your Shorts Film Festival 2023, Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking