Thin Places: Short Review. By Joe Muldoon.

Grieving the sudden deaths of her sister Tama (Quannah Chasinghorse) and nephew Junior (Roman Romero), Birdie (Shelby Factor) drifts along the liminal zones between death and life, and the temporal zones between the lead-up to and the lead-on from. Tama and Junior are dead, but they’re not gone; though she’s still reeling from her loss, Birdie doesn’t let go of them, of their memory, of their presence.

Retreating to the vast fields of her native Muscogee Creek Reservation, Birdie’s search for peace and solitude ends up bringing her closer to her late sister, being accompanied by a vision of her spirit. Backlit by the gorgeous hues of the setting summer sun, the sisters sit on a blanketed grassy knoll and share gossip, laughter, and tears. And through this spiritual experience, reassured by Tama that “I’m everywhere you are”, Birdie finds the closure she so dearly needs.

Writer-director Brit Hensel’s short is a beautifully tender journey through life in this world and the next, and a solemn tribute to the bonds that tie our worlds together. Hensel’s Native heritage is an overt influence, and the entire piece is imbued with a philosophy of death not only familiar to Native audiences, but likely also comforting to those feeling lost with grief, perhaps unfamiliar with such a philosophy.

Thin Places shares the view that death is not an endpoint, or a finality, but a natural and inevitable next step as we transition from our corporeal realm into the incorporeal — but these planes are not so separate or far away in time or space. As Tama reassures Birdie, some …“say life is short, but it’s long”. A veil exists between the sisters, but it’s not an opaque one. And while-ever Birdie cherishes and retains her sister and nephew’s memory, they’re still together, smiling back and forth through the veil.

By Joe Muldoon.

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