During a dinner with her mother, a perennial science fair champion learns her new friend is not all she appears to be.
Director Rafael De Leon Jr. puts a nice little spin on outcast revenge flick in his latest effort Waffle. In five minutes of running time, he is able to tell a coherent story spanning multiple years without the audience feeling lost the whole time. He does this through dialogue and shooting shots with visual aids throughout the film, while not feeling as if he is trying to cram a lot of stuff in such a small amount of space.
It is hard to write a review on a film that is just barely five minutes long without spoiling too much, but here is the plot. Wendy (Andrea Shannon Young) is a science fair champion at her school for whom there seems to be no real competition, as she has decisively won the fair several years in a row. Unfortunately those great accolades comes even bigger tragedy. She has a disfigured face and is a bit of an outcast with no friends or any positive emotional support.
During one of Wendy's usual days of verbal abuse from some evil classmates, the beautiful and popular Dana (Kerri Ford) surprisingly comes to her defense. This leads to a new friendship and one that Wendy is not used to having in her life. In the excitement of this new alliance, Wendy has Dana over for dinner to meet her mother (Kathyrn Neville Browne).
After the meal, Wendy's mother praises Dana for the defense of her daughter at school right before making them their final course. This is when we find out Dana's true intentions for Wendy and in turn, just how not so fragile the science genius really is to those who cross her. Now it is time for a just dessert!
Again, this short film is only five minutes and seems to pass with a blink of the eye. De Leon Jr.'s self composed score is especially haunting and the lighting establishes his film's unsettling mood. For an inexperienced cast, they are all extreme believable in their roles. Overall, calling Waffle entertaining would be an understatement.
The film has been awarded Honorable Mention at the 2010 Tabloid Witch Awards as well as being an Official Selection at Blood Bath 2: The Film Festival and New York No Limits in 2010. It has also been an Official Selection at the Love Your Shorts Film Festival and High Desert Shorts International Film Festival this year. This is De Leon Jr.'s third short feature and of Waffle is a hint, big things are in the horizon for him.
For more information on the little film with a big bite, check out the following links:
5 comments:
I will have to check this out. Now for curiosity. Thanks
Five minutes? That has to be a record. Oh wait, Bambi meets Godzilla was shorter.
Excellent. Thanks for that review. I am always hoping to hear about short films of interest.
Sounds pretty intense. Kinda want to see it. Someday it will be on the internets, right?
It definitely was a sweet little treat!
Post a Comment