In writer/director/actor Raphael Frost Gonzalez’s The Living, the true state of a friendship is tested by a simple request. During what appears to be a weekend of just chillin’, Ezra (Taylor Hancock), right off the bat, asks his best friend, Gavin (Raphael Frost Gonzalez), to help him commit suicide. Gavin says yes. Now, what do they do for the rest of the weekend?
“…asks his best friend, Gavin, to help him commit suicide.”
The short comedy finds low stakes laughs in the high stakes subject of death. Gavin is the calm, collected one who goes along with Ezra’s request. As the two are wasting time, Gavin is thinking about how he will go through with his friend’s fatal request. On the other hand, Ezra is getting a little pissed off that Gavin is not showing any concern for why he wants to kill himself and always seems lost in his thoughts. In the third act, Gavin proceeds with the assisted suicide without Ezra’s knowledge.
The Living is a very silly short film. Usually, I’m not a fan of these low stakes/high stakes premises, but Gonzalez makes it work. Mostly because he has two well-defined characters acting within the constraints of those realistic personalities, it is a bit like winding up two mechanical mice and watching what happens as they dart about. The short film is dark, touches on the subject of death, and in the end, it’s a story about friendship.
"…a very silly short film."
