SALOON
★★★★
Directed by: Dayakar Padayacheee
Starring: Kwenzo Ngcobo
Short Film Review by: #StefaniaMihailescu
No matter how powerful the gun is, we all need a safe place to take a breath once in a while.
Nkanyamba is a hit-man, in a dystopian Alternative South Africa. He wants the life of a righteous path, and sets off to the safe havens, Saloons, for a drink, only to learn enemies are all around him.
They say you have to ‘’love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.’’ Yet, when your life depends on your fast intuitive reaction, those advices step aside.
Trust is an emotional brain state, not just an expectation of behavior, a set of behaviors, such as acting in ways that depend on another. To trust people, you need to feel good about them. And any little hint that might stir up your intuition, will start a conflict.
The film is drowning in tensions and pointed frames of the main characters’s faces, hands and guns. The director guides you, yet misleads you into a story that seems to have a romantic touch, while the real message lies under the counter.
The only female starring makes you stare at her beauty and ignore the blood on his collar, before she surprises you with the most breathtaking moves.
Some special effects enlighten the drama and puts on hold the unexpected end of the dialogue. There’s more than a couple of surviving skills to deal a full house of enemies.
The director Dayakar Padayachee, has worked on Wide Eyed which was nominated for Best Short film at the Simon Sabela awards and his recent film The Method is still in post production, so you’d better keep an eye on his work, because he enjoys revealing the end of the story after the credit lines/titles rolled on the screen.
