I often begrudge short films about grief because, well, besides the fact that there are so many of them, watching someone be sad isn’t all that entertaining. But, what if you weren’t sad? What if you were angry? What if you resented the person close to you for making such stupid decisions that led to their death?
Past the Second Stage is a deceptively simple tale about a young man grieving the loss of his brother. It takes a basic narrative premise, but slowly and effectively builds up a mass of complicated and powerful emotions. It’s a film as much about loss as it is about nostalgia—a yearning for a time when everything was simpler and happiness was effortless. Director Samuel Galloway effectively cross cuts the action on screen with simple, but lovely vignettes of childhood. That might, on first blush, sound like a somewhat on-the-nose narrative tactic. But, it never feels forced. Backed by a simple, ethereal score, it’s, ultimately, quite poignant. In that sense, Past the Second Stage is melodramatic in the best way possible—it hits you in the gut, but it’s not unearned or manipulative.
Galloway seems to understand how easy it is for most young filmmakers to overreach when it comes to emotional material. As he relates to Short of the Week:
“I had recently seen a handful of short films that wanted to provoke an emotional response they hadn’t earned in the set up, which felt manipulative. Student films are often guilty of this, too personal and dark for their current skill set, so we had been avoiding anything melodramatic for years. This film was an experiment to see if we could finally do that and earn it, as a kind of benchmark in our progression as film makers.”
Past the Second Stage also manages to not wear out its welcome. Again, not to compare it to lesser films, but so many shorts about the loss of a family member feel interminable. Not the case here. Galloway wisely keeps the runtime short and the emotions high. I’m well aware this isn’t a flashy film—it’s not exactly the type of material destined to go viral. But, still, it’s worth acknowledging when a film gets human emotions so right. To use a common parlance, it’ll hit you in the feels.
Currently, Galloway is in post production on his first feature film (created with the same team that made Past the Second Stage). Be sure to check it out and give it a like on Facebook.
This post first appeared on Watch The Best Short Films | Short Of The Week, please read the originial post: here
