Tags:
Film: Purpose
Year: 2024
Director: Kevin Gabor
Writer: Kevin Gabor
Starring: Philip Böthun, Joel Arenander and Nikola Gamanova
Review:
This is a film that I got the chance to see when the writer/director reached out to me through his production company’s Instagram page. He included a link to check out this new short. Now I had a feeling that this wasn’t horror, but since I’ve checked out other things they’ve done, I wanted to do what I could to help get the word out about their new short.
Synopsis: Will (Philip Böthun) has a strange meeting with a man on a train platform. It is from there that we see Will hit rock bottom in dealing with his girlfriend leaving him abruptly.
Then to just expand that synopsis more, Will seems to be having a rough go from the start. It is interesting that we get this interaction between him and Robin (Joel Arenander) in the opening scene. The latter tries to be friendly and it is rebuffed. It is from there that we see Will has issues that he’s dealing with. Like the synopsis said, his girlfriend left him without explanation. He isn’t taking it well and it is reflected at work. There is drinking and showing up late, which leads to him hitting ‘rock bottom’.
Now from there we see Will trying to get back on track. It is a good concept here to show that it isn’t easy. Will tries to reach out to old friends, but no one seems to have time for it. This brings him back to meeting Robin who is homeless. There is an interesting story that we hear that fills his backstory. This film has good messages it conveys. With this new friendship, it is not to judge a book by its cover and everyone has issues of their own they’re dealing with, creating the framework of their story.
The other message is showing that you shouldn’t give up, even when things are at their bleakest. This is a character study of Will. We see him on auto-pilot with life, he’s making bad decisions due to being dealt a bad hand. He needs to find his purpose though and to not seek out others for his happiness. I do appreciate seeing that as it does make this heartwarming for sure.
I’ll then say here that this is a low budget film, so I’m going to judge it as such. For me, shorts either tell a complete story or need more fleshed out. My first reaction here is that this tells a complete story. You could flesh it out by giving more of the backstory that I’ve alluded to with the ex-girlfriend. I’m not sure that is needed though so that would in turn mean that it is complete.
The acting isn’t great, but it fits what they needed. Böthun isn’t the strongest at conveying emotions, but I was still there to see where his journey would go. Arenander was also good here. He doesn’t let Will being rude to him get him down. He is still there to help him when he’s ready. That almost feels like a sponsor you’d see with the self-help programs. I do have to say, I think he’s wearing a fake beard that made me laugh. Other than that, Gamanova is quite attractive. What is interesting there is we never meet her. We just see her through memories and flashbacks. That makes it almost like a specter haunting Will. The rest of the cast were fine in rounding out what was needed.
I’ll then just end this out by saying that the filmmaking was fine. I thought that the cinematography and framing were solid. They don’t necessarily go out of there to do anything we haven’t seen before, but it made sense with what they did. No issues here for sure. The soundtrack also fit what was needed. Not one that I can recommend to everyone. If you like to support independent cinema and want to check out a short film that has a good message, I’d recommend it then.
My Rating: 6 out of 10