Short Film, Short Review: AMY

At a residence Mary is caring for many sick and ailing guests, including the young Amy. Delivering refreshments to relieve her guests during the Summer heat Mary warns Amy not to venture from her room at night lest she disturb the other guests. Wracked with pain Amy ignores the warning and leaves her room and discovers that her host has been keeping a dark and deadly secret from her guests. 

 

L Gustavo Cooper’s Amy is an exercise in style and mood and I found many things to like within it. I like the setting and the lighting. The ambient sound and music are rich. Rebekah Kennedy delivers a painful and tortured performance as Amy. Her physical performance is great. The way she rolls over in bed at the beginning of the short film, her hand all crooked, effectively conveys her suffering. However, I am iffy on Danielle Kennedy’s Mary. Her delivery feels practiced, too formal and lacks a natural warmth. Her performance comes across feeling like it was better suited for the stage than the screen. 

 

Full disclosure, prior to the premiere of Amy at Fantasia last month in front of the screening of Cold Hell Cooper had shared variations and cuts of Amy with me. I also spoke with his writer Peter Cilella (Resolution and The Endless) at the fest so I know the pair have a greater vision for this story than what is presented on screen. 

 

This presents an advantage/disadvantage scenario. Knowing that Amy exists as a proof of concept before watching likely lessened any impact it had. And because it is more a proof of concept than its own all encompassing story it does not necessarily come with any sort of definitive statement either. But Amy is a good example of the visual and technical style that Cooper would hope to achieve with a feature length version, and I am on board with that.