The Oscar-winning short film Curfew, directed and written by Shawn Christensen, brings up several controversial issues in merely 19 minutes. Starring himself, Fatima Ptacek, and Kim Allen, the plot captures the attention of the audience immediately and pulls them in even more as the film continues. In my opinion, Curfew was extremely well-done, and deserved the Oscar that it won.
The film opens with a shot of Richie (Christensen) holding a razor blade and lying in a bathtub filled with blood and water. We see that one of his wrists has been slit, and he is preparing to cut the other when the phone rings. He answers, and it is his sister Maggie (Allen). Her voice is desperate and frustrated, and before Richie even has a chance to say hello, she cuts him off by saying "You know that you are the last person I would ever call, but I know you're not doing anything important, and I am really in a bind ..." He simply responds with one word, coming off as sarcastic, although possibly unintentional: "Okay." He meets his niece, Sophia (Ptacek), in the lobby of his sister's apartment building, with his ever-present cigarette dangling from his mouth. She gives him a list of appropriate places to take her, given to her by her mother, and tells him that if he takes her anywhere else, "There'll be hell to pay." They go to a bowling alley, and in an attempt to get to know her, Richie takes her to pick up some flipbooks he made as a child. At first, Sophia is cold and bossy, seemingly not caring about anything that Richie has to say. As the film goes on, she opens up to him, and even asks him to dance with her as he imagines a scene in which she is dancing down a bowling lane and everyone in the alley is snapping and tapping to the beat. She snaps him out of his daydream, and they go back to meet her mother.
Throughout the 19 minutes in which the story is told, we are taken on a journey with the depressed main character, Richie, as he realizes that he has something to live for. This idea is shown by the light-hearted sass in which Sophia is portrayed. One can clearly see how Richie is shocked by the youthful carelessness in her that has been left behind in his life. Although dark and somewhat emotional, the movie still manages to be hilarious and easy to watch and understand.
The film opens with a shot of Richie (Christensen) holding a razor blade and lying in a bathtub filled with blood and water. We see that one of his wrists has been slit, and he is preparing to cut the other when the phone rings. He answers, and it is his sister Maggie (Allen). Her voice is desperate and frustrated, and before Richie even has a chance to say hello, she cuts him off by saying "You know that you are the last person I would ever call, but I know you're not doing anything important, and I am really in a bind ..." He simply responds with one word, coming off as sarcastic, although possibly unintentional: "Okay." He meets his niece, Sophia (Ptacek), in the lobby of his sister's apartment building, with his ever-present cigarette dangling from his mouth. She gives him a list of appropriate places to take her, given to her by her mother, and tells him that if he takes her anywhere else, "There'll be hell to pay." They go to a bowling alley, and in an attempt to get to know her, Richie takes her to pick up some flipbooks he made as a child. At first, Sophia is cold and bossy, seemingly not caring about anything that Richie has to say. As the film goes on, she opens up to him, and even asks him to dance with her as he imagines a scene in which she is dancing down a bowling lane and everyone in the alley is snapping and tapping to the beat. She snaps him out of his daydream, and they go back to meet her mother.
Throughout the 19 minutes in which the story is told, we are taken on a journey with the depressed main character, Richie, as he realizes that he has something to live for. This idea is shown by the light-hearted sass in which Sophia is portrayed. One can clearly see how Richie is shocked by the youthful carelessness in her that has been left behind in his life. Although dark and somewhat emotional, the movie still manages to be hilarious and easy to watch and understand.