A true friend is beside you in order to help you see your from a different angle your life. Or maybe your death… ‘The Living‘ is a short film that approaches a friendship from a slightly atypical perspective in the context of an existential crisis that tackles the theme of suicide. Raphael Frost Gonzales creates here a misleading narrative apparently starting from an indigestible dramatic core to later slip into a cynical comedy. The trauma of a character and his decision to end his life contrasts with the hilarious frenzy of his friend to help his comrade in making this final decision. What begins as an exercise in abyssal psychology, as an analysis of guilt triggering an irreparable tragedy, suddenly turns into a kind of absurd attempt to put into practice a plan that sounds tempting in theory but terrifying in practice. This transition can be risky, as the director seems, through this choice, to sabotage the potential of his own project, changing a delicate internal conflict, coherently contextualized in an introspective confession, with a cartoonish event unfolding. However, the result is pleasing enough for anyone looking for a dynamic comedy that defies the cheap patterns of the genre.
After his girlfriend dies from an overdose, Ezra blames himself for the tragic event so much that he decides to commit suicide. But this is more difficult than it seems. Ezra needs help. Could his friend do this for him? At the right moment? But when is the right moment?
Regardless of the spectators’ tastes concerning this situation shift, Raphael Frost Gonzales’ short film is an enjoyable project, certifying a good knowledge in regards to the mechanisms of the filmmaking language. The dynamism and symbiosis between the components of the cinematic material progress coherently, offering, if not a portrait of a man tortured by the responsibility of a tragedy, then a pleasant narrative that will put a smile on your face. ‘The Living’ is a short film that manages to offer an alert yet funny experience. Still, we are more than curious to see how the director would manage a more complex dramatic core without finding in humour the ultimate solution to avoid the neuralgic points of his characters.
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