"Standoff" Short Film Review
“Standoff" is a tight little short from writer Ilana Strauss and director Devan Young that creates a bent little version of our reality where guns are superimposed into the hands of every man, woman and child that populate this world.
Renee (Weslie Lechner) is plodding through a regular type life jam-packed with a regular type job and hell even regular type familial and relationship conflicts. The stake of every interaction, of every work request, comes with the threat of being blown away.
And, as far as I can figure, the dominant political discourse that seems to inflame an increasingly politically charged world gets its makeover. Rather than scrutinising the daily machinations of press conference ratings, hor trying to unpack why a president would wish a convicted paedophilia ring groomer "well" in a press conference the characters in "Standoff" sound like chat threads straight out of a Harry Potter and the Wizarding World Reddit thread. The debates rage, even for those of us that consider themselves fans of J.K Rowling's books, take a moment to realise and orient yourself even to attempt to convince anyone that you have a tenuous grasp of what's happening.
On a technical level, it's a scrappy little short; a largely homogenous package. The most lively the direction and tone happens in the outdoors. What "Standoff" lacks in tone it makes up for in "everything and the kitchen sink" approach. Writer Ilana Strauss and director Devan Young use their twelve minutes to ask a litany of philosophical and existential questions. Every single one could have filled an entire short (or feature for that matter), but this is a buffet of ideas would rather see your belly full.
Writer Ilana Strauss and director Devan Young put guns in the hands of every character, and yet there were no real moments that I felt genuine fear for Renee's (Lechner) safety. It may be that the performers in "Standoff" don't convey the posture of someone who intends to kill for their point. That's evident from the start; the first gun emerges when you see a slovenly guy having a loud conversation on his phone on a park bench. Before Renee arrives, this slob does a sloppy spit take in response to the person he's talking to and barely even wipes his face. When he is flaccidly nursing his revolver and wards off Renee from sitting too close - an injection of post-COVID realness in this pre COVID short - it feels empty. There's a reading that in a world of digital receipts, everyone can pull that trigger and end you, and for that, I give it points.
★★/★★★★
[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0rcGCWNzAo&w=854&h=480]
