Imagine sitting in a dark, tiny movie theater while munching on delicious organic popcorn while trying not to cry in front of your classmates so you don’t look like a loser. Then imagine howling with laughter only moments later. This basically summed up my Oscar-nominated short film watching experience. I went through so many emotions in such a short period of time, that I thought I was my mother going through menopause.
The two short films that stuck out the most to me, were the two that made me experience the strongest emotions. ‘‘The Confession” was the depressing story of a young boy who causes an accident and accidentally kills his best friend.. all in the matter of two days! I sat there in shock and tried not to cry as he sat in the confessional and struggled to confess his sins, only to chicken out. Needless, to say I was more than relieved when that film ended.
The last film, “God of Love,” was definitely my favorite of the bunch. It made me laugh out loud more than a handful of times, and was a nice reprieve from the emotion turmoil I endured from the previous films. The story revolves around your typical awkward-goofy-romantic who is in love with a girl who doesn’t even give him the chance of day, even after he strikes her with Cupid’s arrow and writes her a 9-page poem in Portuguese. Luke Matheny, who made the film AND also played the lead role of Ray, was entertaining to watch and hilariously funny. So much that at point I was sure I was going to be kicked out of the theater for laughing too hard.
I was amazed by his acting skills in the confession.