A young black man gets into a lift which he shares with a middle aged white man in an expensive business suit. The young man can feel the older man wondering if the young man is in the right place and imagines what it would be like if the discomfort was reversed.
Based on a section from his own book, the narrator takes us in both the mind of a white man and a black man. He talks about how uncomfortable the black man must be feeling as he is made to feel out of place by the white man. The narrator imagines the tables turned with the elevator opening into a club full of young people of all ethnic backgrounds. This has some value as it is an interesting idea - although the film's stereotypical view of the white man is almost as bad as the view the white man holds of the black man.
The words are the better part of this short and it is clear to all that these came first and that the short was later built around it. For this reason the visuals don't really add anything to the words as they are merely trying to reflect what is being said. The short thus only really served to put pictures to the words for those who cannot imagine it themselves from the original source. That said the words are interesting enough to justify watching this, the only downside of the words being that the delivery touches on the pretentious at times and the narrator sounds like he is getting more from it that the film lets on.
Overall this is an OK short whose source material sounds a lot more interesting than the film manages to be itself. Solid delivery but it really doesn't add anything to the words other than giving them another media in which to be heard.
Based on a section from his own book, the narrator takes us in both the mind of a white man and a black man. He talks about how uncomfortable the black man must be feeling as he is made to feel out of place by the white man. The narrator imagines the tables turned with the elevator opening into a club full of young people of all ethnic backgrounds. This has some value as it is an interesting idea - although the film's stereotypical view of the white man is almost as bad as the view the white man holds of the black man.
The words are the better part of this short and it is clear to all that these came first and that the short was later built around it. For this reason the visuals don't really add anything to the words as they are merely trying to reflect what is being said. The short thus only really served to put pictures to the words for those who cannot imagine it themselves from the original source. That said the words are interesting enough to justify watching this, the only downside of the words being that the delivery touches on the pretentious at times and the narrator sounds like he is getting more from it that the film lets on.
Overall this is an OK short whose source material sounds a lot more interesting than the film manages to be itself. Solid delivery but it really doesn't add anything to the words other than giving them another media in which to be heard.