Helpless

Few shorts have the ability to present believable settings, characters, drama, and conflict. Helpless delivers on all counts, and it promises to hold you in a taunting suspense.

This dramatic short, set in a beautiful school library, offers fantastic cinematic language, but more importantly, it focuses on an honesty between two high school kids who have strong affections for one another.

The story has multiple clever tricks to bring you back into the psychology of a high schooler and feel the intensity of pent-up emotions. But don't be fooled, you've probably never quite felt a looming discord quite like they do...

Extraordinary performances by the actors, Dylan Arnold and Mary Vallery, coupled with dialog that is endearing, brings this drama straight to our heart. The story is revealed in an engaging manner that makes us care about these characters and their feelings. We know that we are interested and invested in where their interactions will turn. The conversation, so very well written by Evan Russell, flows in very real and natural prose. It hardly seems possible that the conversation was not taken live from a actual encounter. As we watch the story unfold, we know that these characters are people we relate to very well. This kind of story telling only comes from a great film. These young artists have produced a film that is worth seeing. We can expect that with this initial offering as example, these talented artists will have bright careers.