|
|
 |
"Between
You And Me" is almost the typical boy-meets-girl
story…and yet it's so very atypical.
The
male and female protagonist in this short film (Rasko
Ristic and Alexandra Lerman) live near each other, and
have even crossed paths before, but have never met. One
day, the girl goes out on a run through the city, bringing
along her digital camera and stopping occasionally to
snap pictures. That night, while returning home, another
man spots and follows her, intending to assault her. The
male protagonist, while up on an L-train platform, happens
to see the assailant grab the girl, and he runs down to
help her. The attacker flees, as does the girl, dropping
her digital camera in the process.
The
Good Samaritan is unable to catch the girl, and her camera
is the only clue he has as to who she is. He uses landmarks
in the pictures to try to figure out where she might live.
In a nice juxtaposition of story and visual look, the
film itself was shot with a digital still camera, giving
it a very unique look.
Content
The
Good Samaritan aspect makes this film more than just a
short boy-meets-girl flick. It is an interesting story,
and one that would not be possible were it not for modern
technology - without the benefit of a digital camera,
our protagonist probably would not have been able to find
the girl, or at least wouldn't have been able to find
her so quickly. It is also a more serious story than the
more typical - and often hokey - ways in which couples
meet in most films (i.e. The Wedding Planner or You've
Got Mail). Instead, this film reminds me more of Serendipity
which, although it is a romantic comedy as opposed to
Between You and Me being more of a drama, I think it's
one of the more intelligent and well-thought-out romantic
comedies in which two people meet by complete chance and,
well, serendipity.
There
were a couple of confusing moments in this film. Which,
I suppose, are bound to happen when editing together stills
rather than motion shots, though I will say that the director
did a good job of putting all the individual pictures
together to create a cohesive story. In any case, there
were a couple moments that confused me. For example, when
the male protagonist is standing on the L platform, he
looks around and sees the girl fighting with her assailant,
yet there don't seem to be enough shots to indicate that
he saw her - at first he only appears to glance briefly
in that direction, though later there is a good reaction
shot that shows that he did see her.
Also,
when he runs down the platform steps to come to her aid,
there are a few frames of a different individual who seems
completely unrelated to the story. At first I thought
that this person might help our hero in rescuing the damsel
in distress, but he simply stood there as the protagonist
ran past. I don't know whether this was a director cameo
or just an indication that there were other people standing
around and not doing anything. If it was the former, it
seems like it should have been more subtle; and if it
was the latter, there should have been more people included
in the shot. In any case, those few frames don't quite
fit.
|
|
|
|
