After seeing a lot of Jenny Agutter in EQUUS and LOGAN'S RUN (the latter flick posited that she and her cohorts--including Michael York--would disappear upon turning 30, and for awhile, it seemed that most cast members of the movie really did!), Jenny pops up here getting out of bed after a one night stand in her altogether (but much more skilled at keeping her kibble and bits out of camera range than she was in her earlier films). After Jenny is decent, the rest of this short involves her character dealing with what woke her up in the first place: a fully-clothed man dangling from the tree outside her window due to some sort of domestic dispute. Though bits and pieces of the anonymous man and woman's back stories come to light before the close, the purpose of this piece seems to be to promote audience speculation. While not as funny as many of the shorts from yesteryear (MOVIE PESTS, or is it FILM PESTS, comes to mind), this is a lot more interesting than some of the other supposedly humorous shorts I've seen this year.
3 Reviews
Very adult but also very funny
planktonrules21 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This short was one of a collection entitled "Shorts: Volume 4". The prior collections have all been terrific and are highly recommended for people who love the genre.
Of all the shorts in this compilation, this one is among the most adult. While it doesn't show any nudity and the language isn't bad, the film is about one-night stands and suicide--not a topic you need younger viewers to see.
The film begins with a lady awakening from a one-night stand and trying to quietly get dressed and sneak back home. However, as she's dressing, a guy come crashing past the window and gets stuck in a tree. It seems they are several floors up and he'd tried to kill himself but just got stuck instead! The lady tries to help him at first, but he'll have nothing to do with it. Then, oddly, they begin to talk about a lot of irrelevant things instead of trying to rescue him or contact the police.
It seems that his significant other has cheated on him and in response, he's trying to die. However, there is a baby alone in his apartment and the lady climbs up to take care of the child. Once there, he hears the man's wife (or girlfriend) calling to him trying to apologize. So, it's up to the lady to straighten things up and then immediately get home.
While this all may not sound very funny, the dialog is great and everything works well. There are plenty of things I didn't mention, as I don't want to spoil the film. Regardless, the acting, writing and direction are simply lovely and it's nice to see an older Jenny Agutter in film---I haven't seen her in at least a decade or more and she looks simply smashing.
Of all the shorts in this compilation, this one is among the most adult. While it doesn't show any nudity and the language isn't bad, the film is about one-night stands and suicide--not a topic you need younger viewers to see.
The film begins with a lady awakening from a one-night stand and trying to quietly get dressed and sneak back home. However, as she's dressing, a guy come crashing past the window and gets stuck in a tree. It seems they are several floors up and he'd tried to kill himself but just got stuck instead! The lady tries to help him at first, but he'll have nothing to do with it. Then, oddly, they begin to talk about a lot of irrelevant things instead of trying to rescue him or contact the police.
It seems that his significant other has cheated on him and in response, he's trying to die. However, there is a baby alone in his apartment and the lady climbs up to take care of the child. Once there, he hears the man's wife (or girlfriend) calling to him trying to apologize. So, it's up to the lady to straighten things up and then immediately get home.
While this all may not sound very funny, the dialog is great and everything works well. There are plenty of things I didn't mention, as I don't want to spoil the film. Regardless, the acting, writing and direction are simply lovely and it's nice to see an older Jenny Agutter in film---I haven't seen her in at least a decade or more and she looks simply smashing.
Irony At Dawn In Short Film
CitizenCaine22 August 2009
Warning: Spoilers
At Dawning won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002. Jenny Agutter, the best thing in this film, is a woman desperately trying to leave a one night stand behind as dawn approaches. Hence the title: At Dawning. As she makes her escape, she's confronted by a man who has leaped from his window because his significant other has cheated on him, irony of ironies. Agutter has to keep him quiet while being detained, and their conversation turns into anything but what one would expect considering the circumstances. In the end, the man suffers the most unlikeliest of ironies from his cheating significant other as Agutter escapes from her overnight lover undetected. I'm not sure what to think of the film, besides saying it's a slight film with probably more enjoyment potential for a female audience considering how things turn out. ** of 4 stars.
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