'As they slept' follows two young women at a crossroads in their lives and in their friendship with each other. The short, simple story it imparts is very relatable, in spirit if not in detail, and therein lies its power as a film.
Maya Hawke, as Margaret, gets the most focus from the camera; I loved her performance in the third season of 'Stranger things,' and her part here demonstrates to me that her acting in a well-known series is no fluke, and that role very deserved. I'm less familiar with Rachel Hilson, but her role opposite Hawke as Eleanor shows me, even in just 11 minutes, that she is a capable young actress with much potential.
From sets to lighting to script, all aspects of the short play their part, essentially serving as a vehicle for Hawke and Hilson. They ably present to us a series of scenes, and a moment in life, that is very familiar to viewers. Margaret and Eleanor were best friends for a long time, but the paths of their lives are diverging. So now what?
Spoken lines of dialogue contribute to the tale, but don't necessarily say as much as the expressions, movements, and actions of the characters. And they are very identifiable in a way that's exquisitely, uniquely painful: Who hasn't met up with an old friend, particularly after time apart, hoping to reconnect - only to find that things are more complicated than we'd like? It's more awkward still when the circumstances of that reunion are less than ideal, as they are for Margaret and Eleanor. The idea of picking up a friendship where you left off, or continuing as though you haven't changed as people, is all but mythical. You want to say something, but what? Will it be received the way you want it to be - the way you thought it would be?
These are the notions that 'As they slept' puts across, and the result is a short that, though fiction, feels like a night playing out in our own lives. When the realization hits that she and Eleanor are a bit at odds, Margaret's enthusiasm begins to flag, and it becomes Eleanor's turn to keep the night going, as though going back to their AirBnB would herald surrender. And so it goes. "It's going to be all right." Would that we could all keep such resolve.
It's short, and it's simple, but it's poignant. Hawke and Hilson perform well in Haroula Rose's short film that makes us take a step back and think keenly about our own approach to our friendships. How much you get out of 'As they slept' may depend on your level of engagement with shorts, if not how much you can relate to the content, but I for one find it well worth watching.
