21st Hollyshorts Film Festival Review Roundup: Part 2

Hollyshorts Film Festival is in full swing! With some of the best shorts of the summer and engaging panel discussions, there is a little something for everyone. We still have several reviews coming your way of our favourites from the fest. Starting with these three gems:

Voices from the Abyss, dirs. Irving Serrano, Victor Rejón

From the opening seconds of Victor Rejón’s and Irving Serrano’s Voices of the Abyss, you can tell you're in for nothing short of a spectacular visual feast. Shot in gorgeous black and white, you watch waves crash against the shore as you're introduced to “The Abyss”, a seven-meter wide channel that cuts into the cliffs of La Quebrada.

You hear the voices of divers speaking of their dives. They say the experience is like the sea becomes the sky and the clouds become the ground. Looking at the height of the cliffs and the power of the sea, jumping into the abyss sounds insane. But as quoted in the opening minutes:

“Do not ask for sanity from those who’ve heard the voices from the abyss,”

Cliff jumping is always something I have loved doing since I was a kid. I remember my father would take me at a young age to some nearby cliffs where we would jump off into the water. There was nothing like conquering your fear with one step off the ledge and hanging in the air knowing the water will catch you. Passing boats would yell at you to jump and you would give them a wave as you plummeted into the river. On a recent trip to Dubrovnik, I visited a cliffside bar I had seen people posting about on YouTube where you can jump off the nearby cliffs. When I got there, no one was jumping. To the shock of people sitting on the cliffside having beers I jumped from the spot I saw on YouTube, just trusting that because someone had done it before, I could do it too (probably not my smartest idea in retrospect). However, none of that holds a candle to the spectacle of watching the La Quebrada cliff divers. The cliffs are 35 meters high; they dive in perfect form into the abyss. The fear of jumping is only half the battle - climbing the cliffs to get to the jumps seem equally difficult and dangerous. 

Voices from the Abyss takes its time to carefully tell its story. It is amazing to hear the different perspectives of the divers individual journeys with diving. Each of their stories are eloquently put side-by-side and interwoven to create a stunning mosaic. Each of them has a different story of how they came to be a part of this community. For some it’s following in the footsteps of family, while others do it for the thrill and show. But what is common amongst all of them is the respect shown for the abyss as it takes a toll on their bodies the older they get. 

Just like the young children divers gradually learn to dive from higher and higher cliffs, this short builds to the cinematic moment of showing the dives. The score swells and the cinematography shines as it shows the divers launching off the cliffs and entering the water in slow motion shots both above and below its surface. 

Voices from the Abyss is everything you want out of a documentary. It’s informative, it thrills, and its beautifully shot. I promise it’s a short you won’t regret diving into. 

Review by: Brandon MacMurray

The Second Time Around, dir. Jack Howard

The Second Time Around starts off with an unnamed older woman, played by Caroline Goodall, standing outside a café under the blanket of a dark and rainy night sky. Inside the café we find the barista Elle (pronounced Ell-e), played by Hannah Onslow, busy cleaning up after a long day's work. The woman knocks the door startling Elle, who proceeds to cautiously open the door. She explains that she came by before and accidentally left her umbrella behind, and after some convincing Elle agrees to let her in to look for it.

While strangers to one another, the woman seems oddly familiar towards Elle, as she begins sharing her life story about a long lost lover who used to work at the very same spot. The pair share stories and pleasantries over a cup of tea as closing time drags on, with the mood comfortably relaxed and cheerful until Elle asks how long the two of them have been together…

Balancing the narrow line between mysterious and unsettling, writer-director Jack Howard paints a beautiful picture of a tale left for us viewers to interpret as we see fit. Plot holes become little nuggets intentionally left behind to prompt discussion in a clever way that I think reveals more about us as viewers rather than the film itself. It is a high concept film with a down to earth approach, grounded in relations and human nature, touching on the subject of mental health in a delicate manner.

I want to specifically highlight the score here, which is present for the majority of the twelve-ish minute runtime. It is grand in its approach, mimicking a theater like setting without tipping over towards a musical in its presence, often playing the role of the third character on screen. Paired with the rain hammering down in the background it helps immediately set the stage and draw you in, guiding the viewers along the subtle rollercoaster of emotions.

The film was birthed through a Kickstarter project which passed past its goal within a month, and went on to almost double that amount towards the end. It premiered in June of this year and it is a BAFTA qualifying film, and I have a feeling we will see much more of this film throughout the coming season.

Review by: Robin Hellgren

Ragamuffin, dir. Kaitlyn Mikayla

Adolescence can be a difficult time for any human being. Feelings, fears, uncertainty, hormones, and insecurities flood us in this emotionally heavy period of our lives. Cinema attempts to understand these growing pains, finding the coming-of-age genre a perfect spot to dramatize the complexities of the teenage years. In her debut short film, director Kaitlyn Mikayla approaches the hardships of a nomadic life in Ragamuffin. We follow Ryan (Eden Harper), a twelve-year-old girl with hearing problems, who uses a hearing aid to help in her day-to-day life. She lives in a trailer with her father, "Mad" Mike Myles (Robert Hadlock), a dirtbike rider.  Hence, we observe her routine during a weekend at a biking event. 

Firstly, Ragamuffin is the study of Ryan's growth, the transitional moment from childhood to adulthood. Consequently, she is experiencing the first stages of this new moment in her life and is finally noticing how she is changing. In this sense, the director highlights one of those changes through the sexual awakening of the lead character. At first, Ryan notices the gorgeous girl who says hi to her colleague at the t-shirt stand. She also noticeably doesn’t know how to act when she sees the cleavage on the track's store clerk, due to the height difference between her standing in line, and the clerk behind the desk. Mikayla spotlights Ryan’s sexual blooming through the looks of a confused teenager battling against her physical and hormonal necessities. There is tension between the sexual interest in the world around her and the shame of watching the girl she has a crush on trying on one of the long-sleeved t-shirts from her stand. All of which gives an impressive display and enactment of an authentic teenagers reaction. 

At the same time, the film is also about an unconventional family. A deaf child living in a trailer with her womanizing father, who is notably having an affair with the clerk. Ragamuffin is about the non-conformity and the diverse nature of each individual. One of those examples is how Ryan constantly falls when trying to race with the dirtbike, surprising everyone who believes she is a natural rider because of her father. Consequently, each individual is their own. The beauty of the film is in the details of the rambling mind of a twelve-year-old girl. Additionally, the cinematography work by Jared Bedrejo provides the texture to the dirty look of the track and the dust of each curve, object, and trailer parked around them. Shooting it on film adds a visual personality that impresses for a first-time directing of a short film, and goes well with the scenario in which the film is set. 

All in all, Kaitlyn Mikayla is a name to watch, and Ragamuffin is a tender and heartfelt observation of an atypical girlhood. It is led by the spectacular Eden Harper, who infuses personality and vulnerability into her character. On top of the sensibility of the impressive cinematography Jared Bedrejo, fills the screen with texture and visual lushness.

Review by: Pedro Lima