Shot in a documentary style, this short film is apparently material shot for a feature film (Dipso) that didn't make the final cut but that the director felt worked on its own as a short. The film is a static camera outside three different cells, which allows us to observe and hear the conversations of three pairs of cellmates.
The approach is pretty effective as it causes us to focus very much on the people in the cells, without too much else to go on apart from what they do and say. It does play like a documentary, which is an interesting approach, but it is written and performed (pretty naturally). The material is solid and keeps in step with the documentary approach; on one hand this makes for a more reflective and natural film, but then on the other it does mean that not a great deal plays out – so dramatically it is a little unsatisfying, even if as a documentary (which it isn't) it does work as a study in prisoners (old, young, mentally ill etc). The approach is ultimately better than the content though, and I liked it for the idea more than the deliverables.
There was potential there to make it more of a documentary and write material allowing more probing, or to have more dramatic elements, even if that came at the cost of the documentary feel. The result of what it does though is a film that is interesting in the design and execution, but perhaps lacks something in the delivery.
