New & Notable: The Youth In Us
Directed by: Joshua Leonard
Like most great short films, this one takes you by surprise. It goes to great lengths to set you up and allows you to believe that you are in one story when in fact you are not. The camerawork facilitates the trick. It never gives us a full picture. It remains on the actor’s faces, invades their intimacy, and allows the words to build the tension. It’s a ride, a well written one at that. There is something interesting being said here as well. On my first look I thought it was about love, but watching a second time I understood it to be about something different. Coming of age perhaps, our first time, and how that moment marks us for the rest of our lives. What strikes me about this film is not the sex, love, or death. It’s the way that he remembers the choices that he made the moment he lost his innocence and how that allows him to be who he is and hints at what he is capable of doing in the future. There is some truth in that. Definitely worth a watch.
Sometimes a Good Notion 