It doesn’t happen often, but every once and a while I see a short film where I feel like I missed something integral to figuring out what’s going on. In this case, the film is less than six minutes long so I had the opportunity to watch it a few times and… I don’t think I missed something; I don’t think it’s there at all.
As Out of the White opens, a man (Joshua Twarynski) is working his way through the snow to what appears to be some abandoned cabins. When he arrives, he uses his shovel to dig out some black trash bags. As this is happening, the man is being watched by another, a hunter (Logan Lesmeister) with a rifle.
Why the hunter is watching the man isn’t clear, nor is it established what is in the trash bags, and why they are of interest to either man. All we really get out of the scene is that the hunter doesn’t want to be discovered by the other man, even as the hunter makes some significantly boneheaded moves for a guy trying to hide from detection. For one, running in snow leaves tracks and makes noise; it’s not a subtle way to sneak up on someone.
Still, while you know what’s happening, you just don’t know why. The score by Logan Lesmeister, however, is quite good and the film looks alright, so it does have its pluses. In the end, though, it doesn’t seem to have a real story or purpose, or at least not one that is shared with the audience. It plays less like a short film and more like a short scene from a larger endeavor, hopefully one that could establish context.
This film was submitted for review through our Submission for Review system. If you have a film you’d like us to see, and we aren’t already looking into it on our own, you too can utilize this service.
