A social worker is confronted by his troubled past and recent transgressions as he crosses paths with a runaway child. Traversing this ethical quandary, he chooses to help the boy, with little regard for how this will affect his life and the lives of those around him.

When reviewing modestly funded, independent movies there is a certain allowance made for scaled back production values and the limitations that stem from working with a more restrictive budget at timeframe. Unfortunately, writer/ director Kyle Romanek offers an interesting premise for his short film but fails to ignite the script with the same ingenuity. The bland dialogue is apathetically delivered by all but the lead (Tony E. Williams) and this is exacerbated by some amateurish performances and poor sound design.

By shooting in Burbank, the location offers picturesque visuals but an overreliance on handheld camerawork gives many of the more dramatic scenes a “wedding video” quality. Beyond the technical issues, the most jarring aspect is the fact that the runaway child is quite clearly a man in his mid twenties. This gives Astray a peculiar “Imposter” vibe that I’m sure wasn’t the filmmaker’s intention. As previously stated, there is an interesting drama buried here, it’s a shame that the short film medium chosen doesn’t allow the story to breathe and mature over the course of the run time, with potent, dramatic beats feeling rushed.

Astray is released digitally on October 13^th.

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