Break Free

Starring: Tanya Quenko, Andrew Creer, Alex Sorian Brown

Director: Lilton Stewart III

After a stressful night working at the local diner, Maddy (Tanya Quenko) learns that her brother Arie (Alex Sorian Brown) has just been accepted at UCLA and has asked her to move to Los Angeles with him. As she contemplates this life altering decision, her boyfriend and local mechanic Bo (Andrew Creer) asks her to move in with him. Maddy must now decide whether she wants to continue her small town existence or let the next chapter of her life unfold in Los Angeles.

As someone who has made two life altering and difficult decisions to move (once from West Virginia to Los Angeles and then from Los Angeles to Denver), this well-shot short film resonated with me quite a bit.

The film drops us right into the moment, not concerned with the past or giving us much information by way of expository dialogue to explain the relationships. While this was initially frustrating to me as it could have added a little more depth, this keeps the film grounded in realism and keeps its focus on the raw moment at hand.

While there isn't much character development by the way of dialogue, Director Lilton Stewart III (who also serves as cinematographer) uses his keen eye to not only make a visually impressive film but uses those visuals to help us invest in the characters. This includes a standout scene where Bo takes his frustrations out on a punching bag as he comes to some realizations about his relationship with Maddy. Not only does Creer play the scene well, but Stewart filmed the scene with Bo obscured by shadows and only lit by a red light. The effect is haunting.

As already mentioned, Creer does a fantastic job as does Bo, who gets a lot of the more emotion driven material. While Tanya Quenko is good as Maddy, it's jarring at first that the Ukrainian actress doesn't alter her accent . She and Alex Sorian Brown are meant to be siblings and he doesn't have an accent.

I would have liked to have spent some more time with the characters but I was impressed with what Stewart and his team were able to accomplish. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Break Free is available on Amazon Prime.

Grade: B