A transgender visits a dying friend on their death bed in the short drama Acceptance. Take a look at our review, right after the jump.
Sharon travels to the family home of an old school friend to pay her respects, but is met with hostility and ignorance from another friend and his dying friend’s father. This all stems from the realization that Sharon was once a male called Shaun.
Whilst Acceptance has a runtime of just eight minutes, the short is filled with a nice heartfelt story coupled with some great performances from the cast. Christopher G. Pike is convincing as Jack, the young dying man, as are his grieving parents. David S. Hopcroft portrays Jack’s father – a man who is angry at the world and refuses to accept the fact that his son may no longer be alive soon, just as he refuses to accept that Shaun is now Sharon. Jack’s supportive brother is played by Curtis Reid, an actor and director who also made the short film Cause and Effect (our review is here), and he does well too.
Whilst all the performances were good, I was really impressed with Nicholas Magrey. He plays the role of Sharon/Shaun elegantly and to great effect. You can feel the pain behind his eyes as the character longs to be accepted in a world full of transphobia and inequality. It really is a great performance. It’s also worthy of note that Magrey co-wrote the screenplay alongside Natasha Darius.
When it comes to short films, you can usually put them in to two categories – Ones that look aesthetically pleasing but with no substance at all, or ones that are all heart but are made with amateurish mistakes. It’s quite rare to find shorts that both look excellent and have a great story, but I am pleased to say that Acceptance does.
It is a nice heartfelt story but it also looks and sounds excellent too. It is beautifully lensed by Jeffrey Butchbinder, who took up the roles of director, editor, cinematographer and colorist. Showing he has game in many major roles that make up a film crew.
All in all, this is great, intelligent short film that is worthy of eight minutes of anyone’s time. If given the chance, make sure you watch it.
Also, you can see more from the guys at Shoot The Moon Films on their Youtube page. Take a look.
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