Author: Alex Cole

The desperation to escape can be over-powering, and coupled with the confusion of growing up it can be dangerous. Adolescence understands the exhilaration of love, and the heartache of a broken home.

Adolescence follows the story of shy, sensitive and artistic young teen Adam (Mickey River) as his home life begins to weaken and he seeks out this escape through drugs and love.

We begin With Adam as a typical teenager. He loves classic rock, he loves his friend Keith, (Romeo Miller) and he’s desperate for a girl. It’s an all too common story. Your friend has game, and you don’t, so he decides to help. Enter stage, Alice (India Eisley).

Alice is everything Adam wants. She’s fun, she’s crazy, she wants to hang out, party and drink beers, but most importantly she likes Adam. He’s desperate to tune out, and get away from his depressed mother, constantly cheating on his Dad, whilst his Dad drinks himself through his anger and disappointment at life. No one is happy. So, what do you do? Well, Alice provides an escape.

We don’t learn much about Alice except from her surrogate father Shepheard (Tommy Flanagan), who in my opinion is the second best character in Adolescence apart from the amazing (and hopefully my future best friend) Keith. Drawn in by the lull of love & sex, Adam and Alice enter a world of hard drugs before the friendship of Keith and father-like nature of Shepheard pull Adam out from within it.

We see a typical teenager descend into desperation, desperate for the affection of Alice, who seems only interested in the next hit, battling her own demons.

Where Adolescence excels, and perhaps also fails is that despite Alice’s addiction, and Adam’s search for bliss, the story never quite gets resolved, we see hope, but we see no happy ending. Yet, to be honest, I think that worked perfectly.

The only failing of this is a possibly inaccurate portrayal of true addiction for which you need ONLY Beautiful Boy to shine a light on. But, Adolescence isn’t really about the drugs, it’s about a search for yourself, and the understanding that you can’t shut yourself away from the world forever and that beauty (Keith) does exist.

The performances in this film are a high standard. India Eisley sometimes feels like she’s forcing it and Mickey River can appear disingenuous, but Tommy Flanagan (Gladiator, Sons of Anarchy) and Romeo Miller bring the film back. There are also excellent supporting performances from Elisabeth Rohm (Law & Order, Joy) and Michael Milford (Dave), who for me isn’t given enough screen time or sympathy, but is treated to a beautiful ‘almost’ reconciliatory scene towards the end as Adam moves on.

I do wonder why Shepheard helps Adam cure his addiction and why he suddenly, and without explanation, becomes so involved in his life, or how Keith has his phone number when he never seemed to talk to him which took me away from my immersion for a while. Nonetheless, the father son relationship was worth this quite massive plot hole. I have also written a long and harshly worded petition to the film industry to request that dark and gritty doesn’t have to literally mean dark and gritty. Dark and Gritty content, yes please, but I’d still like to see the characters faces. The sun never sees to rise in the seemingly dystopic world that Adolescence exists in.

Adolescence is worth a watch on a Wednesday evening. It’s not quite your blockbuster weekend film, but I did like it. Watch the Trailer Below.

You’re the shy kid at school with a small group of friends, you’re not hated but you’re not exactly popular. Then, a new, good looking and very cool student moves in from America. Somehow, a relationship blossoms and you two end up together. What could be wrong? Well, lots.

Heart’s Ease is a discussion of taboo, and dark secrets. From experienced short film producer but first time director Jassa Ahluwalia, Heart’s Ease is as shocking as it is beautiful. Rarely do you see a more confusing piece of film. Such a beautiful love and a beautiful story on screen leaves you gasping as taboo comes to life. I didn’t know what to think. Rarely have I been taken on such a cinematic rollercoaster, and all within 15 minutes.

• 

Ahluwalia has shown his guns, and shown his glory. This is an incredible directorial debut. I’m trying to compare it in my head to other shorts, and other romances as I write this review and even compare and contrast Ahluwalia with other directors. Yet, I’m left thinking it’s unfair to compare or lesson work by quoting this and that influence. Heart’s Ease has its own emotion, and its own style, and I don’t want to diminish Ahluwalia’s success by rambling on about someone else.

If I were to compare it to short films it is both the same and the opposite to my all-time favourite, Oscar Sharp’s Sign Language. Sign Language was a Bafta short listed film and won the Virgin media grand prize and has stuck with me ever since I saw it in a Picturehouse cinema as a Virgin media short preceding the trailers. Sign language is beautiful, I love the couple, and I love the characters. I had the same feeling throughout most of Heart’s Ease. Yet, where Sign language left me buzzing and full of sunshine and rainbows; Heart’s Ease took my love the characters and twisted it. I loved it.  

The decision to cast your own sister in a role is probably one I’d never make. Especially, for such a taboo topic, but both Ramanique Ahluwalia and Scott Chambers (Porters & Malevolent), who make up our taboo couple give real and powerful performances. I can see Ahluwalia making feature debuts in the not too distant future and hopefully Chambers can continue to climb the ladder.

The lighting throughout Heart’s Ease was dark and off colour, but not dingy. Its brightness fit the tone and the impending doom, and the shots were personal and close and almost point of view. It made you feel as if you were in their heads, sharing their emotions.

• 

Heart’s Ease made its festival debut in Ahluwalia home town of Leicester at the Short Cinema festival in August 2018 with a budget of only £30k and is a recommended short by me. Also check out Ahluwalia’s website for his other short Modern Man which he produced and maybe one day Heart’s Ease will be there too. You can check out the trailer below.  

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHLU60MVQlY

Dealing with life is difficult. It’s even more difficult when your childhood and upbringing are less than perfect. But what do you do if someone you love just can’t take it anymore?

Just Say Goodbye is a powerful and heartfelt story about suicide and friendship. Sarah (Katerina Eichenberger), with a future in front of her and excited for a summer holiday is forced to deal with the impending suicide of her best friend Jesse (Max MacKenzie) after he reveals he plans to take his life.

Low budget from the first frame, and with no signs of getting better, Just Say Goodbye is true indie. The cameras shake, the sound is up and down, and the secondary characters feel like they’re in a panto. Yet, Just Say Goodbye astounded me. Five minutes in I was invested, five minutes in and Sarah was the greatest human being Id ever met.

This triumph is in equal parts due to the honest and believable script writing, the well thought out cinematography, despite the budgetary and clear equipment restrictions, but also the terrific performances by the main cast. Eichenberger as Sarah created such a real portrayal of a friend in trouble,that anyone going through these sort of moments could relate.

MacKenzie as Jesse blew me away with a sense of sarcastic melancholy whilst William Galatis who played his father showed a character arc unlike any other. Director Matt Walting has given Just Say Goodbye a touch of Larry Clark‘s Kids, but with perhaps a teensy more hope than that particularly depressing portrayal of real life teens.

Ending montages, and (word for talking on your own) are not something I’m usually fond of unless they’re done right. The ones in Just Say Goodbye, though not perfect have a tint that I can’t ignore. Matt Walting, who directed Just Say Goodbye is one to watch. Although not as comedic or light as Edge of Seventeen, as teen flick as The Art of Getting By it does bear a resemblance to its higher production indie cousins.

Just Say Goodbye has many touches of the art of getting by, though it arguably lacks a more relatable and lighter side. My main criticism could be this lack of any potential joy, or one that lasts longer than ten minutes, but maybe that’s why it has so much impact. It doesn’t sugarcoat suicide in anyway, not does it have the melo-drama and gossip girl nature that came along with the Netflix series 13 or whatever.

Tearful, is how I’d describe Just Say Goodbye in one word, I would only add that Just Say Goodbye deserves and needs a wider release.