★★★
Directed by: #LeelaVarghese
Written by: #SeatonKaySmith
Starring: #AkksheyCaplash, #EmmaHarvie, #SeatonKaySmith, #VeronicaClavijo
Short Film Review by Taryll Baker
When Matt accidentally shrinks himself and is captured by the ants whom he has unwittingly been squashing, he must find a way to escape their clutches and his impending death sentence.
Opening with Matt (Akkshey Caplash) making a tutorial video with some kind of shrink technology, a quick twist of fate sends him shrinking down to the size of an ant. He is then greeted by the very ants he forms the likeness of. They take him hostage and some humorous dialogue commences. Leela Varghese’s witty ant-centric short film takes a funky approach to carry us on a journey to a world within our world that we always overlook. Beneath our large stomping feet are the many frantically scattering ants, escaping their death with every tiny step.
As comedic sci-fi films go, this is quite the entertaining — very small adventure — that explores growth and change but in a light-hearted way. The cast is fairly good, though a smidge cheesy, which I’m certain is intentional. There’s not a huge amount of moving pieces and given its intriguing concept, this can be quite disappointing. I was expecting something more from this short, but what I got was just… well, good.
A pumpy electronic score by Chiara Costanza accompanies the fast-paced, comical imagery, alongside a pretty decent edit from Christine Cheung. Science+ falters in the SCIENCE, but explores the FICTION quite well. It dabbles in the meaning of existence and awareness of other life, with physical actors in campy ant costumes bringing forward a sensibly strange and somewhat amusing feeling to the script. Due to its nature, I found it a hit and a miss. Some things landed while others didn’t.
Featuring on the YouTube channel DUST, Science+ is just one of many films presented weekly. There’s a lot of interesting sci-fi content including shorts such as this, which I think is a pretty neat idea. It brings together a wide community of filmmakers who have an admiration for science fiction and crazy concepts, delivering these to an easily accessible audience. Science+ isn’t the most incredible film, in fact it does lack in the visual effects department. There are many scenes that feel quite unloved — backdrops seeming a little too out of focus or blown out — which probably comes down to lack of time or money. That said, there’s a neat little story beyond that and it’s quite a laugh if you’re into this sort of thing.
I wouldn’t recommend this to the hardest of hardcore sci-fi fans, but if you can appreciate the smaller productions that bring forward a message with a fancy twist, then Science+ should be to your liking.
#TaryllBaker
