Homegoing (Short)
**Seen at the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival.
Are our lives just laid out for us when we’re younger? Are we destined to be certain people, have certain jobs? Or can we break out of those possibilities, and do something more with our life? That’s one of the questions being asked in “Homegoing,” and it is one that impacts all of us. In Carlton Daniel’s short film, it’s central to Junior (Malik Shakur) on this particular night. We see him preparing for a viewing at his father’s (Khalil Kain) mortuary. We later see him going out for an evening with his friends, Meech (Chazz Giovanni Bruce) and Jessica (Ayyhaunnah de la Renta), even though his dad doesn’t like him going out that late. When he and Meech see some police lights, it’s not hard to wonder why as they scramble to get their identification out, and hands on the dash. That’s going to be the least of their worries, though, as the night goes on.
Daniel’s film is experienced from the perspective of Junior, and we see him talking about wanting more than just to run the mortuary after his father goes with Meech, who has a very different experience of what his father left him, one that has influenced who he is. While Meech is almost driven by his father’s legacy, Junior is wanting to run away from it. Should he? By the end, that’s a complicated question to answer. The final shot makes us think one thing, but maybe Junior will realize something else. One thing’s for sure- I think Junior realized why his father didn’t want him out so late.
