Three estranged sisters meet up for the anniversary of their mother’s death, but the day doesn’t go as planned in Andrew Walsh’s short film I Miss The War.
Families can be strange. There will be people with totally opposite personalities, arguments and pure hatred toward each other, but then you can also feel an overwhelming desire to protect one another just because you share the same lineage. This is present and for all to see in the new Australian short comedy film I Miss The War from director Andrew Walsh.
Annie (Hannah Gott) is a struggling actress who is desperate for a meaty role to lead her to superstardom, especially as her best role to date was in a tampon commercial. She seems to have a happy and supportive relationship with her teacher boyfriend Raymond (Kyle Webb) and life seems to be okay, but the imminent arrival of her two sisters may just change all that.
It’s been nine years since the death of their mother and the sisters have decided to get together on the anniversary of her death. First to arrive is Charlotte (Sarah Golding) and then Stella (Laura Vine) with her new husband Adrian (James Barr). Their father is a no-show due to him apparently having work to do, which is unusual according to Stella as its a Saturday.
What follows next is a series of arguments and clashes over a pizza dinner at the dining table. Stella insists on their mother’s urn being present whilst they feed, Adrian wants Raymond to take an adventure in the outback in search of their “roots”, Charlotte has a breakdown in the bathroom and Stella also states that her and her new husband are moving back into the family home, of which Annie now lives.
It’s situations like this that we can all, to some degree, relate to. Families can be strange things.
The dialogue and performances in I Miss The War are two of the short film’s strong points. The writing is realistic and all the actors do well with it, even seemingly relishing in their roles. I do feel the production has some slight issues though. The lighting and cinematography is a little bland and the overuse of ADR is off-putting, especially when you notice that a lot of the dialogue scenes are out of sync with the actor’s mouths.
Still, I Miss The War is an interesting twenty four minute snapshot into the life of a dysfunctional family which has more positives going for it than negatives.
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