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Square 1 Article

"Square 1" is a short film created by the new independent "Jolly productions" team, consisting of three young talented film makers in Lewis Barnard(who plays Chris), Oliver John Williams(who plays Jack) and Jade Louise Rogers(who plays Rebecca).
The Film is about a young girl called Rebecca who is trying to find love, at a bar one night with friends, she catches the eye of Chris and Jack who are both stood at the bar. Her first instinct is to introduce herself to Chris, at the moment of meeting the film dramatically flashes many years into the future, where the two are married, in a very "brutal" and "shocking" scene as described by Lewis, it is evident that Rebecca is the victim of domestic abuse, this adds power to the film as it happens everyday to many women around the world. Chris has come home from work one night and discovered his wife has not prepared him an evening meal, this is where it becomes violent and he begins to attack Rebecca. There is a scene where Rebecca is grabbed out of the bathroom by her hair, I praise the acting in this scene as it is so believable and the actors have spared no possible injury to do this, Rebecca is then viciously thrown down the stairs, this entire sequence made me quiver as it is brilliantly filmed and exquisitely performed. Audiences will find it very dramatic and frightful but impossible to look away.
As this abuse is now evident, the narrative takes an unexpected turn as Rebecca finds herself back at the bar where she met Chris, immediately she seems confused, as if she has awoken from a dream, however this is where it is clever as it leaves to the audience to decide whether she has actually gone back in time or just had a vision into the future if she takes the road with Chris. Put off by whatever explanation she opts for Jack instead, is this the right decision? again as previous, a montage depicts the passing of time which is very effective, and the images show she has a happy life with Jack, Marriage, children etc. until......One night at home, Rebecca receives a disturbing phone-call, Jack has been involved in an accident and has died. Again a brilliant piece of camerawork and editing is used where Rebecca drops the phone shown at a low angle and in slow motion with focus on the phone, it then hits the floor as if she herself has crashed. The story then moves forward to Rebecca visiting Jacks grave, keeping the mysterious flow of the film, as Rebecca stands looking at the grave, a mystified, ghostly image of Jack appears behind her and they seem to make contact, this was her true love and he has been taken away. The story seems to be over in that no matter what Rebecca  does, whatever Choice she makes it will not be the right one, however, she seems to have a gift and for a second time she finds herself back to the day at the bar, "back to Square 1" as the title suggests. She sees them both stood there, Jack is still alive, she wants to return to him but realities that he will die if she is with him and in order to save him she cannot be with him, she decides to call it a night and leaves the bar, on her exit she bumps into a mysterious man, and in beautiful Hollywood style fashion there eyes meet, this is my one criticism of the film, as it can be called "cheesy", however I will let it go, it leaves the film on a cliffhanger which is not seen often these days, Rebecca has had bad look so far, what will it be like with this man? it leaves the audience begging to know what happens, yet they will never know, this is the beauty.
Overall this a brilliant piece of film making and one of the best narratives I've seen in a while, I only wish it was a feature length. It somehow manages to combine realism with fantasy, it covers serious issues, and people can relate to it, if this is there first serious project I only have hope that the Jolly productions team move onto bigger things as this has really touched me, I have a good feeling they will.