Another
good short Jodie Whittaker was in.
Although her role admittedly doesn’t give her much to do, the short
itself is pretty neat. Like Roar and Mr. Dorothy, its story takes it to some unexpected places, but to
me, the twist holds up better here than it does in those other shorts.
As a
mother and her young daughter, Jessica, make their way home, they’re shadowed
by an older man trailing after them at every step of the way. As the two settle in for the evening, the man
lies in wait, for reasons soon to be revealed.
The headline
here is that the older man – Todd, though the name really doesn’t matter – is
played by Alan Rickman. While the short
is pretty minimalist, Rickman is still very effective in the role. Even in the decidedly-creepy act of tailing
Jessica and her mom, there’s something in the way he carries himself that makes
you unsure of how the short is going to go.
You can feel the menace there, but how much of that is about his true
intent, and how much is simply the mystery that surrounds him?
Jodie
Whittaker plays Jessica’s mom, and honestly, there’s not much to say. Given that it’s a story about a mother and
child being followed unawares, she’s not called upon to do much of anything
other than “act ordinary,” the better to up the dramatic irony as we watch Todd
dog their steps. And “ordinary,” in this
case, also means pretty nondescript. She
has a single line – in fact, she has the only line in the entire short, but
it’s a mundane one whose only significance is the fact that the short has no other
lines.
Accent Watch
Sounds
Northern to me.
Recommend?
In
General
– I think so. It’s atmospheric and
interesting, and Alan Rickman is always good.
Jodie
Whittaker
– Naw. This is a nothing part that
anybody could have played.
Warnings
Thematic
elements and dark images.
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