Brink (2011) User Reviews

Extremely positively surprised by how much I enjoyed this one

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 18 January 2018]

"Brink" is an American 9-minute live action short film from 2011, so this one is already iver 5 years old and it is one of several short film works by Oscar winner Shawn Christensen. This one here is all about the subject of romance in an apocalyptical scenario. You don't need to speak English to enjoy as the only spoken language comes from the newscaster on television, especially if we are looking away from the start and at the latter crucial phases of this short movie. I really liked all about it: the soundtrack, the atmosphere, the female protagonist's looks, the general idea and yes I am also a sucker for desperate romance where a higher power may keep true love from happening and persisting most of all. The scene when they are chained together is really sweet and really sad too. Who's the one you want to be chained at in a similar situation? Hopefully the one next to you, not just physically, but metaphorically. I also liked the exact idea of the apocalypse here, namely the loss of gravity, one that is just as simple as it is brilliant. All in all, I could not recommend this film more. It got better and better the longer it went on and I would not even rule out that I may give it a perfect 10/10 on rewatch. The more I think about it, the more I like it and this was the first time I watched it. Like I wrote in the title, I am baffled by how much I ended up enjoying this one here as I am not a great fan of Christensen' Oscar-winning short film and I wish this one here could have gotten all this attention, but I guess the Academy is sobered up too much sadly when it comes to appreciating romance the way it is depicted here. Well, their loss. Don't let it be your loss. You really need to check this one out as it is criminally underseen, preferrably with your partner. This really is a hidden gem. Watch it now. The director has made it effortlessly available online.

pure poetry

[Kirpianuscus · 4 April 2019]

A film who i love in profound way. For story , for pretext, for delicacy, for the lost of gravity effect, for music and for the aura of fairy tale. It is a short romance but the courage and art and force and precision to be little more represents the motif to love it and to see again and again. because, at the first sigh, it propose nothing new. But, for a part of its public, it could be a sort of voice. A film about an old friendship and its heart. Its special heart. A red enveloppe and a letter readed , at only the first sigh, too late. A last gesture, so gentle than , a not fan of romance, like me, remains hostage to this special - special short film.

Works too hard for the 'beauty' and undercuts it as a result

[bob the moo · 1 June 2014]

Since they met in the fourth grade, Jeremy and Evelyn have been best friends – although for him it was always more than that as he believes her to be the love of his life. He decides to confess this to her in a letter, but is it too late to do so since there is a strong chance they will not see each other ever again as the world starts to lose its force of gravity.

I recently watched a newer short film called Explosions where the population of the world rise up into the sky; it was beautifully done technically and in terms of the atmosphere. Brink made me recall that film because it tries to do a similar thing but with more of an actual narrative than Explosions had. What we have is a romance yet to be fulfilled between two beautiful young people – and it is only being realized too late since the world as we know it is coming to an end and everyone is about to float off due to the gradual loss of gravity. If you do not think about it too much (everyone is going to suffocate as they drift away from earth) then there is a certain beauty in the two friends discovering something wonderful and not having the time for it to fade – okay it may fade a little as they die in front of one another, but the goal of the film is to keep your mind on the love part of this tragic love – not the tragic part.

The problem I had with it though, was that it works far too hard to keep me there. The use of music is heavy-handed, basically yelling at the viewer about how the film is supposed to make you feel. This sense of being forced into a lane rather than led into it put me off and ironically the very devices used to get me where the film wanted, actually pushed me away from it. The effects and visual design of the film is nice but again the overuse of 'look at how beautiful this is' slow motion just feels forced and clumsy when it should have been tragic and engaging.

I see what the film was trying to do and it is beautifully shot with the two beautiful leads, but unfortunately the whole thing is pushing the viewer so hard to feel a certain way and for the film to be a certain thing, that it fails to genuinely be that thing and ends up seeming like it is going to force the viewer no matter what it takes.