A Northern Irish pianist is visited by a ghost from his past in the form of a former bandmate in the short drama Music To Die For by director Rebecca Doherty.
There have been a few films over the years that have revolved around The Troubles, or Northern Ireland as it is called internationally. Yet, I don’t believe we’ve seen the subject tackled in quite the same manner that the short film Music To Die For.
A musical duo consisting of pianist Sean (James Doran) and female vocalist Eve (Deanna Jaye Ritchie) are playing to a small crowd in an Irish bar. They are impressing the patrons with their own songs, belting them out with gusto and all is going well until Sean suddenly becomes preoccupied. He believes he has seen a face in the crowd that he recognises from his past. Eve notices Sean’s change and questions him to see if he is okay. That’s when his dread becomes a reality as he realises it is indeed a ghost from his past, in the form of former band member and fiddler Tom (Nigel O’Neill).
The two have a rather frosty reunion at the bar. It soon comes to light that Tom unwisely played a song years earlier that was taken as a political statement, causing a riot and the death of another bandmate. After the tragic incident, Tom then went into hiding, and Sean has blamed him ever since. Having left his fiddle behind, Sean has carried it around to every gig ever since and, he finally finds the opportunity to pass it back to it’s original owner, but not after Tom plays a sad little number for the drinkers in the bar.
Music To Die For is an interesting short with some great songs and performances by its three leads. Coming in at just under fifteen minutes in length, and sticking to the one bar location, the short is compact and smaller than what its subject matter is about, but it is beautifully shot by cinematographer Fiachra O’Longain, with excellent lighting and lens choices, which in turn is colour graded at a professional level by Michelle Cort.
Rebecca Doherty, who acted as the director, writer, and producer on the short leads by example in creating a polished and mature product. It will be really interesting to see where she and her team go next. Impressive.
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