Film Review

5.1       Review and critique at least one short film production

LADIES DAY (2017) DIR: ABENA TAYLOR–SMITH

The short film Ladies Day, or Braids was really original and thought provoking but I’m not sure if I found it entertaining in the traditional sense. I personally prefer entertaining films like Marvel films which is a different world to many of the short films we are watching with BFI Film Academy. The film Braids by Abena was shot in a hair salon and discussed sexuality. It focused on the subjects of the stories, a lesbian and her girlfriend, trying to explore her sexualities in a homophobic and prejudice environment. The hairdressers were discussing gay women and how they look, act and dress, but this was at contrast with the reality of the protagonist, Amma. There was a clash of idea and a clash of reality vs. the thoughts of what gay stereotypes looked like. When the protagonist revealed she was gay the hairdressers were surprised by supportive. The film is very intimately shot to show the main character Amma’s response to what was happening around her in the mise-en-scene of the hair salon. I don’t know whether the colours fully integrated with the story as they were quite warm, vibrant colours but the tone was a bit uncomfortable because of the content of the short film. This short film is very different to what I would usually watch, and different to my experiences with film. Usually I watch gaming videos or Marvel movies rather than short films like the ones we saw in this session. It was educational but it didn’t really keep my attention, and I was distracted by the visual elements rather than engaged by the content of the film. The sound helped to show that the scene was in a hair salon because of the diegetic sound of hair dryers and scissors which the protagonist could hear as well as the audience.