Keep/Delete

One of my favorite things about premium station free preview periods is the shorts--and this is one of the best I have seen. I am sure someone could make a full-length film from this story (with added back-story, character development, technical information, etc.) but I really do not think it necessary. By leaving some aspects of the story and characters vague and underdeveloped, one can fill in the blanks with one's own experiences. I found the lack of details quite thought provoking. I loved the simplicity of this unique concept, summed-up well, and with an end I did not see coming. All-in-all...Twenty minutes well spent.

...it sounded very much like a rehash of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Since it was only 19 minutes, I figured I might as well watch. After watching, well., it's still very much like "Eternal Sunshine," right down to the themes of recurring attractions bringing people together, like low-grade fate. It didn't bring anything really new to the table that "Eternal Sunshine" didn't already cover, and was frustratingly vague about the motives of each person and what sort of incident had brought them to this pass. Ambiguity is one thing, but the narrative was so basic and spare that there needed to be at least *some* backstory to make this short worth watching at all.

Without more backstory, it's just some okay special effects and two people reacting with either misery or cruel disdain, depending. Why they were reacting this way, and what events led to this point? Not a clue. Not even a hint. There's no meat whatsoever to the story, so there's nothing that makes you want to bother even thinking about it as the credits roll. There's considerably less depth here than your average "Black Mirror" episode (a series where it would have fit quite nicely if it had been better-written.)