Tags:
Film: Burn Out
Year: 2024
Directors: Russell Goldman
Writers: Russell Goldman
Starring: Tommie Earl Jenkins and Everett Osborne
Review:
This was a short film that I got the chance to see thanks to Mitch from Millennial Public Relations. Now looking through the press release, I saw that Jamie Lee Curtis was the executive producer. That information as well as seeing that this was horror, I figured that I would check this out for review.
Synopsis: an assistant will do anything to give a presentation in front of his boss - even set himself on fire.
This is mostly a two person show. Virgil (Everett Osborne) is former football player, who was injured and it ended his career. Gower (Tommie Earl Jenkins) is the head of a sport management company. Virgil, much like his playing days, is willing to put it all on the line to succeed.
What we get from here is seeing Virgil trying to finish the presentation. While he is working on it, he is getting alerts through his phone, e-mails and instant messages. This is sending him into panic. He steps away for a cigarette to calm his nerves. In getting up, he knocked over his drink and it caused a fire at his desk. He must send his presentation to himself before his computer dies. We see how far he will go and what he will put himself through to succeed.
That should recap and introduce our characters to set up what we get. I didn't want to go further since ran 13 minutes. It also goes in directions that I wasn't expecting as well. What I will say is that I love surreal way of showing different things as well as where this goes at the reveal. This short made me laugh. I also connected with it since I've experienced burn out at work recently.
Where I want to go then first would be the character of Virgil. It seems like he aspired to make it as a football player. He was a running back. We see him on the ground and bleeding from his nose. In his interview with Gower and through the presentation, we know that he was injured. That closed one door, but now he's using it as his fight to become a manager. What I like here is the stress he goes through with all the alerts asking him to do different things. He is doing a side project, what he wants to give to Gower. He is overwhelmed and this gave me anxiety. I've been in a similar position recently. This goes to the extreme when his computer starts to burn.
Let me then go to filmmaking as well. The sound design adds to what we saw with Virgil. I thought the cinematography, framing and editing was good as well. There are quick cuts to make it more maniac. We are seeing Virgil check his phone with each alert. There is also IMs appearing on his computer. They are distracting and he must work around them. This continues to ramp up as I said with the fire. I also like the surreal images that are edited in. It could be with Gower asking things of Virgil. He also does a dance that made me laugh. They also include football scenes that correlate to what this younger man is feeling. This all worked for me as I thought this was well-made.
Something that I did leave out there were the effects. They go practical with everything from what I could see. I do like the physical representation of fire on his computer. It also burns him as he tries to finish what he is doing. This also goes dark and potentially into the supernatural with something in Gower's office. What I like there is I took this as he is 'selling his soul' as the cliche. That made me laugh because this feels like what I've done and helping my wife understand as well.
In conclusion, I'm glad that I checked out this short. This one spoke to me on a spiritual level since I've dealt with things this explores. This includes burn out at work as well as needing to sell your soul to succeed. I thought that the acting was good from our two leads. Osborne is someone I could connect with and Jenkins is great as his boss. This is well made. I love what they do with the cinematography, editing, framing and soundtrack. The effects were practical and worked for what was needed. What I'll say here is that I judge shorts on whether they're complete or need to be fleshed out. This feels complete to me, aside from just wanting to know a bit more about something at the climax. That doesn't hurt my rating though. I'd recommend giving this a watch.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10