Saturday Shorts: Dead Hearts
I did not find this film based upon my powers of detection. This week, it’s all the fault of Lucard Dragomir from the United Nations of Horror podcast. He found this absolutely delightful short film that combines love and the slightly macabre in the best possible way. It’s fifteen minutes long, which is considerably longer than what I normally do, but it’s so well worth it. Here’s Stephen W. Martin’s Dead Hearts. In fact, I’m giving it a Well Played label. That doesn’t happen too often.
I showed this film to a few people in my excitement, and it was just as well-received. My personal favorite reaction comes from our guest writer Dan Pollitt: “Just finished that short. It was truly beautiful. Like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson hate fucked while Richard Ayoade watched from the wardrobe.”
I don’t think I can top that. That is quite possibly my favorite description of a film. I would put that on a poster.
Expounding a bit, this film is simply magic. The lighting, the narration, the writing, the shots, the use of kung fu … it’s all so perfect. There are moments of whimsy that combine with points of sheer humanity (that little girl crying and the hug she’s given… oh, my heart, how it broke). I loved the theme that it’s never too late, and that while death is something that inevitably happens, it’s not necessarily the end of the story. How you feel will always go on, and that’s hopeful and gorgeous in a time of serious upheaval on a global level. Some may argue that it’s too twee, but I found it to be absolutely enchanting. It made me smile. It made me want to go out, hug the ones I love, and tell them that in this mess of a world, they are the thing that makes me get out of bed in a good mood. So on this Saturday, I offer this advice: dont’ wait for years to go by or for death to tell someone that you care – tell the people that hold a piece of your heart that they matter. It’s scary, but some people are worth that.
Happy Saturday.
