Misread (Short)
“Misread” starts with a man sitting, anxiously, on a bench. He’s waiting for a man about a job. But Jonathan (Kevin Arnold) is uneasy, not sure about what Cole (Rusty James) is offering him until he sits down next to him. He’s to be a driver for Maggie (Alyssa Rhodes), who can read lips, as she watches people from afar. Seems simple enough, but it also seems shady. Jonathan needs money to pay off school, though. When Maggie asks for his help on their first job together, though, he’s thrown for a loop. He wants to help, though, as he makes clear the next time they get together. The question is, can Maggie be trusted, and what type of trouble is she in? There are other questions you are likely to ask while watching McCurdy’s film, as well, such as the nature of the “company” Cole and Maggie work for. If you find yourself frustrated by the lack of answers in that regard, I wouldn’t blame you, although as someone who employed a “less explained” approach to the central narrative of my own first short screenplay, “Unwinnable Hand,” I certainly enjoyed not having all of those questions I had answered by McCurdy in “Misread.” That being said, however, it’s still a tricky thing to pull off, because there has to be something emotionally for the viewer to hold on to, and I’m not entirely sure “Misread” does that. Things are a little too ambiguous, not only in terms of the “company” but in the people Maggie is watching. Still, there’s more than enough intrigue in McCurdy’s storytelling, and a score by Daniel Roach that carries the narrative along, to keep us hooked while the events play out.
