Alone & Alone
Review by Paul Preston
Welcome to Today I Watched…, a series of posts documenting my new challenge – watch a movie a day for the rest of my life. Keep coming back to TheMovieGuys.net to find out what I watch each day…and get my take on it.
When I see a movie that’s a new release in theaters or on demand, I’ll give it a proper review in the “Reviews” or “Home Viewing”, otherwise, I’ll write about it here.
June 7, 2017 – Alone
Not only is this yet another short film on YouTube called Alone, but it’s another one about depression. So that makes it another one I really can’t comment on. Clearly, the filmmaker has something she wants to say about depression and if she or someone close to her is struggling with depression, it feels like making this film is a way to address the feelings she has. And I applaud that. This movie is more well-made than the previous Alone about depression that I watched. The voice-over is well-recorded and the photography is good (the main character even walks down a school hallway shot at floor level, just like the other Alone depression short!), but in the end it’s just a guy walking around with voice-over. That’s it. There’s no conflict (he really is alone) or much in the way of a story or drama. It’s more a meditation on depression, so if you’re into that sort of thing, here you go:
June 8, 2017 – Alone
This Alone was once again as “A Short Horror Film”, but as the previous horror short called Alone that I watched, it’s just an exercise in clichés. It’s tough to know what you’re getting into these days, because technology now affords EVERYONE access to quality filmmaking equipment. As evidenced by features like Tangerine and countless shorts, you can even make a film on your iPhone and it will look halfway decent. But that doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing. For example, it’s as if Nautical Films, behind Alone, never saw a horror movie before, because they put everything in the mix that Scream did before it – girl alone at home, noises have her check the house, nothing works, not the phone or electricity in the basement, etc., she makes stupid decisions, it’s all on display. But I’ve seen it a million times, despite how good it looks. So, don’t be fooled by quality production, anyone can do that now, but still only a few people can tell an effective story.
