Imagine Guy Ritchie recreating “The Lord of the Rings” in a cop movie. Sounds tempting? Then surely ‘Treble Me This‘ is the short film for you. Sticking to the formula of a murder mystery story that, strangely enough, revolves around a ring, Guy Nicholls signs off a delightfully engaging project, while “abusing” all that is cynical about British humour. We know, it’s a popular, but extremely challenging cinematic style for any creator, especially when the quality of the material, as well as the string of sequences that unravel the central mystery, has such a technical sophistication. In other words, regardless of each viewer’s affinities, one thing is certain: this is a professional director with enviable precision. The pleasure of discovering such a project is all the greater because its rather elaborate narrative thread has everything it takes to coagulate an unpredictable story, coupled with a well-dosed humour. The killing domino brings together characters summing up several familiar typologies that, following the tradition of British comedy, capture a mini-social critique with no shortage of the absurd or those insights into the contemporary bourgeoisie with all its little and big sins.
Built on a tripartite structure where each act proposes a perspective on the events, Guy Nicholls’ short film juggles with dizzying ease between narratives, ultimately delivering two possible solutions. But this Rashomon effect serves not only a plot purpose, but also a deeper one, in that the director deconstructs the conventional pattern of a story à la Hercule Poirot. It all seems more like a macabre farce or the whim of a mastermind who, despite his incompetent acolytes, always manages to stay one step ahead of the rest. All’s well that ends “well”: the mystery is solved, but this is not necessarily essential. Indeed, cynicism ultimately prevails, as anticipated from a project like ‘Treble Me This’, which provides a stimulating and enjoyable experience that won us over.
For the coherence, incisive humour, and technical precision with which the director orchestrates this mystery reflecting some of the mores of contemporary society, ‘Treble Me This’ was awarded with the Film of the Month distinction in the March 2024 edition of TMFF.
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