Literature and cinema have shown us countless times that music is a blessing, a way to escape from an ugly world or a means of healing. Well, Andrew Acedo breaks this cliché, portraying in his short film a character for whom music can be a curse. ‘Sing (to me)‘ is not, however, a project that addresses the theme of the damned artist but remains within the standards of realism as “natural” as possible. Thus, the director proposes a fragment of the existence of a young man who suffers from a more special condition – he can only speak while singing – which affects his social relationships. Inspired by the personal dramas of those suffering from autism or Down syndrome, the creator of this project designs a manifesto that expresses, on the one hand, the uniqueness of each individual and, on the other hand, the obtuseness of society in front of those who are “different”. This structural choice has its advantages, since it launches a strong message addressed to all categories of audiences, but also some risks that tend to push the short film in a maybe too militant or melodramatic direction. Anyway, fans of this genre will enjoy every moment of this project that manages to briefly hypostasize the emotional coordinates of an atypical protagonist in his struggle to be accepted.
Charlie is a special young man, but he fails to realize this. Only when he meets another person who, just like him, can only communicate through music, his philosophy of life tends to change. However, the destinies of the two can have different trajectories…
Despite the very promising premises, the director opts for an extremely temperate realism, avoiding a more in-depth psychological analysis. This relatively superficial glance at the characters facing an identity crisis doesn’t diminish, however, the potential of the story. In its current form, Andrew Acedo’s short film is rather the starting point of a story worth telling since it puts in a fresh light some of the wounds of today’s society. In addition, Andrew Acedo is a director with a fine chromatic sense, managing through this short foray into the destiny of his protagonist to create a project that is both incisive and invigorating. Likewise, the talent of the main actors is an additional reason to believe that ‘Sing (to me)’ tells us a story that needs to be continued and that we are eager to hear.
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