Skip links

Cemetery Tales: A Tale of Two Sister – short film review

Cemetery Tales: A Tale of Two Sisters

★★★★

Directed by: Chris Roe

Starring: Tracy Lords, Bruce Davison, Michael Broderick, Ros Gette, Monte Markham

Short Film Review by: #StefaniaMihailescu

Set in 1949, a Hollywood star mourns the loss of her beloved sister on the one year anniversary of her death. When the truth of her murder is revealed, a surprise visitor returns. Time is running out.

The main character seems to suffer a lot over the loss of her twin sister and one of the magical mysteries associated with twins is that they share a special connection beyond that of ordinary siblings. While the twin bond is a unique relationship, sometimes it’s endowed with extraordinary, seemingly telepathic, qualities. 

Commonly, twins seem to share an inherent understanding of their emotional state. Many report a sensation of “something being wrong” when their twin is in crisis.

Despite the lack of scientific proof, these personal experiences can’t be denied. They do happen. It’s generally accepted that such incidents are signs of a deep emotional connection that produces an intense sense of empathy, strong enough to generate physical sensations, such as feeling pain when a co-twin is hurting.

Twins also know each other so intimately that they can often predict how their twin will speak or behave. The main character plays a double role and makes the audience breathe as slowly as the seconds reveal the next action.

One of the tasks of filmmakers is to simplify an image, distilling a scene down to its essence ans color can be a distraction; it can be dull and lifeless. Sometimes, that essence is colorless. It’s pretty amazing how significantly color can affect our perceptions of reality.

You need to have a reason for shooting in black and white. In the 1930s and 1940s the most serious dramas often tended to be black and white. Black and white is never just that. It is also all the gradations of gray in between. And silver. And beiges. And so on.

The short about the twin sisters it’s a tribute to the great black and white thriller/suspense/horror/noir films of the ’30’s, ’40’s and early ’50’s.
Most of all, it is a story that leaves the audience wondering what really happened.

The scenes keep you guessing but not discovering the truth.

Enjoy a travel in time while wondering what if everyone thought you were the dead twin.

Explore
Drag