The road movie has been one of cinema’s most loved formulas since the dawning of the big screen, each one more momentous than the last. We can’t get enough of living vicariously through the characters as they escape their mundane lives and travel to lands unknown. What is more uncharted territory, though, is the road movie short, a challenge that Martin Monk has taken on with his latest film ‘Favoriten’.

‘Favoriten’ proves that you don’t need a 3 hour running time to convey a powerful story and depict a significant emotional and geographical journey, and explores the impact that a chance encounter with a stranger can have on our trajectory.

The expedition we follow in this film is that of Sofia, a lost soul who has run away from home, hoping to travel to Italy and perhaps find her father who left before she was born. Eventually she is granted a lift by a man of few words who unwillingly accepts this eccentric travelling companion. Over the course of the 17 minute film they cover a lot of ground, and an unexpected understanding grows between the two.

As a relatively new director, Monk has succeeded in creating two incredibly sympathetic characters with great empathy and depth. Lia Wilfing, who plays Sofia, is mesmerising, and Johannes Hob’s camera loves her as much as we do. She invokes an instant parental feeling in the viewer, and we want to protect her as much as Christian Dolezal’s character does.

Dolezal is perfectly understated and brooding; quiet, but managing to evoke a layered personality, even with such little dialogue. With most of the scenes taking place either in a moving car, or in huge HGV car parks, or petrol stations off the busy motorway, Hob makes the most of these surroundings. His cinematography captures the moments of motion and the moments of stillness perfectly, sometimes trailing behind Sofia as she marches in search of her next means of transport. We are with her every step of the way, and are fully invested in the journey.

It would be difficult not to be moved by this film, enchanted by the dynamic between the two unlikely comrades. Monk gets the tone just right, in that it is not so much what the characters say, but what they don’t that carries the incredible poignancy.

Happy Tears [dir. Martin Monk] from Martin Monk on Vimeo.

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