Fracture ★★★☆☆

Review of 'Fracture' which can be found here on Vimeo.

Length: 13:13
By writer Rob Kinsman & director Ashley Wing
Genre: Sci-Fi Drama
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: An miner on a distant planet tests his girlfriends loyalties after discovering she is having an affair.

It's a familiar story set in an unfamiliar world. A world where just three people can mine a desolate planet all by themselves. Two men and a woman to be precise. Opening it up for classic conflict, naturally.

The jilted lover is Michael, played by Julian Boote. The cheats, Rachael and Cameron, played by Kate Madison and Russell Turner. None of which I cared about very much. Not the best performances in the world (maybe on the mining planet they were) but I think the actors did the best they could with dialogue that was almost theatrically hammy. Not to mention on the nose and with had a subtext so obvious it stood out like a third leg. "we all have our secrets", "he'll answer for what he's done, don't worry" and "to ask you why you...to tell you" for example. Add to that Cameron's thinking out loud "he cut the wires" which we all figured out about five minutes earlier.

Boote, to his credit, has an almost Jekyll and Hyde presence on screen. We first see him brooding very menacingly. You expect him to be some foul mouthed Scot but on opening his mouth he becomes a tame polite Englishman. Madison and Turner in turn both have well acted moments but these tend to be moments where there's no speaking involved.

The films saving grace is its reasonably good special effects. Rachael's walk outside the compound in particular. Set and costume design hasn't been scrimped on either, resulting in a believable representation of a world that is not our own. Complemented too by impressive sound effects and a good space themed soundtrack.

The sci-fi element was what I enjoyed most about this short. And was glad to see a well presented effort. The film is also structurally sound, hitting all the major beats in the right place. Plot wise, it's pretty straight forward. There's no twist or reveal mind, which by now, is an industry expectation. I thought more thought could have also been put into the title too.

Best Bit: The Star Trek screen shake when the characters lunge to simulate being hit by an explosion.

Worst Bit: The dialogue or the acting? No, definitely the dialogue.

Final thought: Yeah, they all look really chuffed to hear that they're gonna be rich and are getting to go home, don't they.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.