"Laid Off" is a British 11-minute live action short film from 2006, so this one is already over a decade old and it is in black-and-white. It may be a comedy, but it is also pretty deep and meaningfil. I would not even call it a dark comedy, more of a situational comedy. Writer and director here is Zam Salim and I am glad this got him some awards recognition, but a shame he did not really manage a huge breakthrough in the 12 years since this came out. The lead actor is as good as all the other actors next to him playing smaller parts. It is a bit of a sad film, but there also are occasionally uplifting moments to it. It's a film that encourages you to act right away and do what you want to do indstead of pushing it away to procrastinate. And all this does not even include the personal fate of the central character which is very touching again as well. So there definitely are a whole lot reasons to see this one and I think you don't wanna miss out here. This in my opinion is among the very best short films from the year 2006 and it's close to a must-see for enybody I'd say. This one makes you think a lot for sure and maybe consider some aspects and decisions you made in your life. And the best thing is that the film manages to be meaningful while never getting in danger of becoming pretentious. This also has to do with pretty much all the production values being top-notch. A very atmospheric watch and a mastercall in developing tone. I highly recommend checking it out.
Review of Laid Off
