Miss Freelance (Short)
As we see Carly (Maddy Murphy) go through her week, we can’t help but feel tremendous empathy for her. We see her, with different men, doing what they want to do, but not asking for much in return but money. It cannot be easy for her, giving these people something from herself so they can feel better about themselves. Is she happy doing it, though? That’s one of the questions we are left with watching Matthew Kyle Levine’s drama.
It would be reductive to call Carly a prostitute- I get the feeling it’s more complicated than that. We see multiple sexual encounters with the same man (Keith Boratko) and what appears to be a breakup with another (Timothy J Cox); is this her playing a part for these men? Is she really breaking up with Cox’s Ben, or in a relationship with Boratko’s Greg? The other two, Maurice (Ivan Greene) and Randy (Zach Abraham), are very clearly about her satisfying a need, a desire, for them, with money being exchanged after the fact. But with Greg, whom seems to genuinely care for her as she throws up in the bathroom, is it more for her? What about for him? A shot of her in a cab after their second meeting leaves the door open for this question.
We do not know enough about Carly outside of the interactions Levine sets her in during the film’s 20-minute running time to know her motivations for doing what she does, but we do see that it’s something that appears to be draining the life from her, emotionally. We can see that on her face when she’s taking a shower, or in the way she asks Randy for a compliment instead of money. This is an empathetic film towards Carly, regardless of the whys of her doing what she does through the film. Randy’s response to her simple desire for validation makes us feel all the more for her. Levine’s film is thoughtful, sympathetic, and rich with emotion as Carly tries to get through her week.
