I was pointed the way of two short films by Italian film maker Davide Melini, an upcoming writer, director and producer who has also worked on big feature films most prominently as assistant director on Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears (2007), now based in Spain to see what I thought of them.
Well let’s see…
There is always a piece of the puzzle in your life
that does not fit
So first we have The Puzzle, a 5 minute short about a woman pestered by her son into giving him money which she refuses before retiring back to one her favourite past times, puzzles.
Of course there’s a twist in the tale
Filmed in only one day and for less than €300, the lack of budget shows itself at times, but that doesn’t stop this being very entertaining and the ‘reveal’ I found to be nice. Director Davide Melini uses the camera to good effect here while the short didn’t have my impatient side (with the web, YouTube and over 400 TV channels in the UK my attention span is not as long as it used to be) wishing for it to hurry up and give me the pay off.
I would definitely recommend you watch this so I have embedded it below. Check it out
You Cannot Run From Fate
Longer at 16 minutes and made two years later you can see how Davide Melini has improved as a director.
This short follows two very different peoples stories as they become entwined with fatal consequences.
Following an argument with his girlfriend, Mark gets in his car to get away. Distracted by the argument as well as his girlfriends constant attempts to contact him through his phone he becomes involved in a car accident that leaves a young girl dead.
Overcome with grief he breaks into a cemetery, presumably for forgiveness where he starts to realise he isn’t alone.
Everything is improved here from the picture quality to the audio and Davide really shines with his use of the camera. Filled with lots of well framed and moving shots.
I really liked the camerwork when following the girl on her bike as well as the finale in the cemetery.
Coupled with a decent story and again a nice twist this was also very entertaining to watch but sadly there is one big let down for me.
The vocal work.
I didn’t like the voice overs. Not that the script was bad, it was fine, it was the performances. They grated on me but mercifully just like The Puzzle there isn’t that much dialogue and the opening performance by the band in a club was worth listening to.
Why not watch both. It’s 20 minutes in total so here is the short for you to make up your own mind but I know I will be watching some of Davide Melini’s other work
