Palms are sweaty. Not just because it's hot outside. "Curve" is probably one of my new favorite short films. The concept is simple: a woman wakes up on a smooth, curved concrete surface, with a bottomless pit a few inches from her. What happened? Will be survive get out of there? Will she fall to her death? This is a simple idea, a primal fear. Every second of the short is extremely tense and terrifying. I instantly had many questions and got sucked into it.
Laura Jane Turner, the sole actress, kills it. An unnamed character, not a single word said, and you identify to her immediately. I'm not an expert on the directing aspect, but Tim Egan did a great job. The whole short takes place in a very small space, barely more than a square meter, and the various angles saves things from getting boring. Kind of reminded me of "Buried" (that movie where Ryan Reynolds is buried alive inside a coffin). The cinematography is great too, and the visual effects are great. The absence of soundtrack and the sound design help you immerse even more in the short.
Not gonna spoil anything, but the ending will kick you in the gut. At least that was the case for me. As memorable as the last shots of The Blair Witch project, The shining, The mist, Martyrs, The descent (the original ending, not the one where they cut the last minute), in my opinion.
