Alive (Short)
I understand what it means to feel alone in life, and, in seeing someone happy with another person, wanting to have that connection, as well. I think most of us have. I have not had an inability to facilitate that myself on a physical sense. That is central to Jimmy Olsson’s short drama, which has a careworker helping a nearly-paraplegic woman. It’s a simple enough story with a compelling execution, largely because of the questions it raises.
Ida (Madeleine Martin) is taking care of Viktoria (Eva Johansson), and one day, Ida’s boyfriend comes up, and surprises her while they are walking together. It awakens something in Viktoria, a need to be touched, a need for intimacy, but who could be interested in a disabled woman like her? Ida, wanting to prove her wrong, helps her set up a Tinder profile. When Viktoria gets a match, though, Ida finds her caring instincts coming into play in a different way.
The title comes from Viktoria’s desire to feel alive in an existence that seems to be devoid of opportunities. The film, though, is about the nurturing instinct any caregiver has for someone they care about if it looks like they might be making a mistake. But having free will, having agency in our choices, is part and parcel with feeling alive. Olsson’s film focuses on that all the way to the end, and it comes through in a smart, sweet way.
Alive – trailer from Jimmy Olsson on Vimeo.
