Collecting a family member to identify a body is never a simple task; but in Leftovers, breaking news takes it from bad…to very much worse.
Leftovers is a a product of Angry Student Productions and Tofiq Rzayev, a talented young director and writer from Azerbaijan who’s been making exciting short films since 2011. Yet another example of Rzayev facing the things he fears through film, Leftovers is dark and traumatic, portraying a situation no sane person would want to encounter Unfortunately, short films require instant impact, with either a gripping story that takes you from the beginning or characters you can relate with instantly. For me, Leftovers had none of these. Unfortunately the acting was solid oak from the beginning and I couldn’t match any of the dialogue to the emotions on the characters faces. Perhaps this is a translation issue coupled with overly dramatic subtitles, but for me, I saw very little trauma on the faces of Kerza, Momar or Sancar.
The moral musings of the film, discussing hell, rape and wishing your pain on others was interesting and had great potential to really deliver something special. Yet, it came across more like a story written by a philosophy student whose intentions were as far from subtle as possible. It felt forced and unnecessary at times, with the actual story and events seemingly secondary to these philosophical discussions which ruined the feel of the piece and keeps the viewer distant and separate.
Leftovers had potential and though Rzayev’s talent for story telling is real, Leftovers is not the tale for me. Unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend giving this a look. Instead, I’d go check out The Girl in the Woods.
Leftovers is making the festival circuit in January, so at 12 minutes long, maybe you want to give it a go and prove me wrong! Or you can watch the short on the link below if you don’t feel like leaving the house!
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