I saw "Wasp" last night as a short between features on FilmFour, which is now a free channel in the UK. "Wasp" at first glance might appear a "torn from today's headlines" type of short film, made to arose either indignation about social conditions or admiration for the director's bravery in attempting to address such subjects (with arty camera work). When I started watching it I thought it was clichéd. As it developed I admired how the film was ambivalent towards the mother and didn't seem to be making judgments about her. It allowed the events to develop to a point which indeed shocked me, but shocked me as a drama rather than as an exposé. It allows the council estate mother to be somewhat sympathetic- flawed, yes, but above all human. She was making what seemed to me poor choices (like why didn't she tell her new potential boyfriend earlier that she had four children, instead of pretending for one night she was single, and choosing to have sex in the car park? She could have told him about her situation and then taken him and her children back to their flat, where the children would be safe ).On the other hand she seemed very affectionate towards her children. They were very well behaved in the circumstances and cared deeply about each other and their mother, despite her leaving them in the car park, hungry and bored. I disagreed about the quality of the CGI: the wasp to me looked all too real (that wasn't honey on the baby's face but some kind of barbecue sauce). The film's avoidance of the pitfalls of sentimentality makes its portrait of the family all the more tragic. "Wasp" may be only 24 minutes long but it's more moving than many Hollywood melodramas.
Wasp
(2003)
"Wasp" is a moving drama which avoids being a waspy exposé or editorial
27 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers