Movie Review - The Light (Short Film)

It is always special watching someone make something purely out of passion despite having no practical experience, and in a word that is how I would describe “The Light”; special. Despite all its flaws, every frame screams Passion, and in an ideal world that would probably be enough to make “The Light” one of my favourite short films.

The film attempts to capture the feeling of depression, and from some of the shots and ideas it is obvious that the director is telling a very personal story. That is why it breaks my heart to say that the film did not live up to my expectations.

Let me set the context for you, I saw the trailer first set to a fantastic cover of Hurt by Johnny Cash. The first thing I noticed in the trailer was the editing and I was captivated. When I did see the film, the thing that let me down most was the editing.

I felt that the trailer told me a more consistent story compared to the film. What made it that much more disappointing was that the trailer had the best parts of the film. The trailer showcased the best the actors had to offer and all that was left for the film were the scenes where the acting did not matter much.

One of the biggest plusses of the film is the fact that every shot tells a story, and that is something that cannot be taught. For a debut short film to have such care put into framing is something I was really surprised by. One of my favourite shots in the film was one where the girl looks at her phone screen and her father calls her. It is in that moment that everything came together to elevate that single moment over everything else.

It is, but disappointing to realise that Bala Vasanth seems to subscribe to the Zack Snyder school of direction, for he seems to be more focused in creating great moments as opposed to creating scenes. While people may have a varied opinion on it, I believe that a great moment with no support, is just one great frame.

The film was, also edited in an unorthodox fashion, almost as if the director was not interested in cutting the script to suit the film. In some places it is integral to realise that sacrifices to the script have to be made in order for the film to jump off the page.

A better version of the film would have probably been not more than twelve minutes long, as opposed to its seventeen minute runtime. There seems to be almost two peaks that the film is building to, but the valley between the peaks is nowhere to be seen. At around the 11 minute mark, when the narrator seems to become more hopeful, I thought we were on the final two minutes but then there was another 5 minutes left.

I understand that a second fall in the story would have seemed repetitive and boring, but the complete lack of the dip makes it feel even weirder. It also does not help that the “protagonist” resolves his issues before the other cast members does, but the resurgence of his demons was an excuse to give the others enough time to resolve their problems.

The “Protagonist” of the film acts his heart out and along with him, the story of the painter was one which I thought were the best stories. Compared to them, the other two characters were underutilised and seemed to detract from the complexity and time that could have been given to one of the two better ones.

I found it interesting that the film was written in English and in a way it was mostly the accents that detracted from the experience. I believe a straight up Tamil version of the film would have been that much more powerful.

The music was good. I really expected to hear the cover of Hurt but that being said, I started hearing chords of man of steel in the end.

In the end, all I can say is “The Light” is a competently made, brilliantly shot, awkwardly edited, excessively written and decently directed short film dripping with passion in every frame. This is basically a showcase for the director, lead actor and the cinematographer.

I cannot wait to see what this team comes up with next.

Having been forced to rate this out of ten, I would probably give it a 6.5 but I feel that this is something that must not be rated because of how personal and passionate it seems to be.