Milk

Jennifer is a woman in her early twenties who is helping her grandmother by bathing her and washing her hair in her flat. While she sponges her and lets her soak in the bath the two of them chat.

And that is essentially the plot because there doesn't seem to be anything else that really happens much beyond this. Of course this is not to say it is dull or uninteresting because it is actually pretty engaging. The dynamic between the two characters was interesting and it held my attention easily enough. Of course I did struggle a little bit with the more unusual developments in the chat and events and I did wonder if this had some deeper meaning or some personal relevance to the writer/director Burns. I would be interested to know but doubt I'll get the chance but the effect on me as I watched the film was to make me wonder if I had missed something or if it was perhaps my fault.

Both actresses in this short are natural and convincing and did help cover my distance from the material (when did real people ever make total sense?). Fricker is very good and I took her as being quite brave. Few would do a nude scene at this stage in her career but she makes it work and she seems totally at ease despite spending the whole short film naked and sitting in a bath. McDermott works well alongside her and together their relationship makes sense even if it doesn't, well, make sense.

A strange film then. It seems to be quite a personal affair which did leave me feeling a little left out, but the character dynamics and two strong performances held my interest throughout.