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Film: Sundays with Dad
Year: 2024
Director: Thomas Angeletti
Writer: Timothy J. Cox and Thomas Angeletti
Starring: Timothy J. Cox and George R. Hildebrand
Review:
This is a short film that I checked out thanks to our co-writer and star, Timothy J. Cox. He’s a local actor that has sent me a few different works that he is in for review. Since I love to support independent cinema when I can, I agreed to check out this short.
Synopsis: Ben (George R. Hildebrand) is a widower who misses his wife Maggie but finds solace in his weekly meetings with his actor son, Jason (Timothy J. Cox). On this day, he reveals to Jason that he has hired a prostitute, not for sexual favors, but simply for companionship.
Now I was going to do a recap but that synopsis is perfect. What I’ll fill in here by saying is that Ben is sitting outside listening to music when Jason arrives. They have good banter back and forth. What I love is that you can feel the care between these two, which captures the heart of what a short like these needs.
What I’ll say here is that this is all dialogue. We see these two sitting outside chatting. They move over to a table to have their lunch together, which are sandwiches that were brought over by Jason. There isn’t real conflict here. What we do get is a tough thing for Ben to share. It stems from Jason finding a piece of paper inside that has information about this service that his father went through to find his companion. This would be a hard conversion to have, especially with your child. It was made for comedy so that mission was done. That was something that I wanted to give credit to.
Now if you know me, I judge shorts on whether they tell a complete story or if there is more that can be fleshed out. This definitely falls in the former category. The only way I could see expanding this would be to show the interactions with Ben and the lady who spends time with him, even if that is just a montage. What this does well though is making both characters believable. I felt the warmth and the heart, so it was successful there. It does this not only through the actors' interactions, but also from the stories that Ben tells. He explains why he wants companionship and how he misses his wife. His son and his family aren’t able to provide that. It started making me reflect on my family since I watched this while everyone was sleeping.
I’ll then say here that Cox and Hildebrand’s acting performances are both great. They feel like father and son. I don’t know how long these two have known each other, but that chemistry to make this short work is there. This is also simply made. They’re in a backyard. We have good static shots of them in these lounge chairs and then at an outdoor table. There is a realism though since I can think of having conversations in either of these settings. It is something I can appreciate for sure.
I’ll then end this out by saying I recommend seeing this. Watching this after having a stressful day as the last thing that I did before going to bed. This is a well-made short with a good heart.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10