Always a Reason (Short)
Chris Esper’s short film, “Always a Reason,” is a simple scene. A man, distraught over the recent death of his wife, prepares to commit suicide. He has the gun out, and is writing his suicide note to his loved ones. Then, he gets a call.
Writing about short films like this is tricky, because in less than three minutes, there’s not a lot of time for story. There are two characters– the man (played by co-writer Don Tempesta), and the person who calls him (Timmy, played by Christian Goodwin). This type of short relies on performance and writing over filmmaking craft, and both of those are good in this case (and the filmmaking craft is perfectly fine). It’s a simple scenario that hit the emotional buttons it needed to hit. Short, sweet, and to the point, “Always a Reason” is a good piece of storytelling that does what it wants to do well. Nothing more, and nothing less.
