Every February, I find myself seeking out the easily-available short films on the Oscar list because it’s easy to take in one or two with my morning coffee. I spent the first two acts thinking this was an intriguing, if standard, dystopian story, which it is. Affection is grounds for capital punishment, and the economy has substituted literal slaps in the face for money. But I was surprised at how swept up I was in the romance by the third act. The mundanity of a taxi driver taking Angine to a dumping ground of nondescript coffins to search for her lost love was sad enough, but revisiting the scene on the stairs from Malaise’s birthday from another perspective was heartbreaking. The scant runtime of the format lends itself perfectly to how rapidly the events of the story begin, develop, and resolve. Also, a banner year so far for short films with on-the-nose character names, with this and the Jane Austen period piece.
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