Thieves (Short)
In an abandoned city, Thomas (Quentin McCuiston) is unsure as to what happened to everybody. He find a man who has been shot, and takes his jacket for himself. That’s when he is confronted by two other people– Raven (Sarah McKenney) and James Carter (Wynn Reichert). Raven likens Thomas to herself, and calls him a thief, which is technically true, but the more we learn about the situation, the less we believe that these people have anything in common with one another. Writer-director D. Erik Parks’s short thriller, “Thieves,” is an interesting morality play expanding on the notion of what can happen when three people are trapped in a room together, and giving it a post-apocalyptic spin as Thomas tries to figure out whether he can trust these people. It’s an intriguing premise, and well played, but given the setting, doesn’t feel like it has enough emotional and narrative “oomph” to really grab the viewer. The ending promises something that could give us that “oomph,” but we won’t see how it plays out unless another story is told– that’s not the way to end a film, whether it’s a short one like this or a feature film. It’s not a bad choice, per se, but a frustrating one, which is disappointing given the promise “Thieves” has at the start.
Thieves from Erik Parks on Vimeo.
