Albiston's "Run" is well done

"Run," a 15 minute short by Mark Albiston from New Zealand, is perfectly done for the idea it achieves. The film, playing in the short films corner, one of 11 short films of this year's official short film competition, feels like a dream.

I think it is the use of sound that achieves this dreamlike quality. The sounds are all simple but bold and deliberate, with not much background sound: a juxtaposition of the first piano notes of the classic Für Elise by Bethoveen against a bold original composition of piano notes; a bee buzzing; and jogging- the sound of shoes hitting the pavement while running- are some of the main ones. These strong sounds, and the fairly scarce dialogue, lead the viewer to a perfect ending focus point by the time the 15 minutes are over.

"Run" portrays a family of three who has lost their mother. The daughter plays the paino; her father prefers that she pratice Für Elise, but she secretly has her own composition behind her grieving, edgy, and fierce father's back. The son is an artist too, and uses his sister's piano composition for a story he narrates on his tape recorder, all in secret. When the father finds out his childrens' secret endevors and in the process a precious framed picture of the mom is broken, he becomes enraged and makes the kids go jogging, to get an odd form of satisfaction.

The daughter, heavy for her size, is not good at running and her father beats her. From here she has to attend a piano recital and play Für Elise, and her brother arrives in time to bring her her own original composition. Her performance of this is astounding and the viewer gets the notion her father is impressed. It took the son and daughter together standing up against their father to perhaps bring him out of his grief and realize.

The strong sibling bond shown in "Run," helped made strong by proper sound and just enough simple scenes, lets the viewer leave the film feeling calm and like she has just seen some nice images.