HOLLYSHORTS 2020 FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! For Your Consideration is a stylish, snarky, and satirical short film by Poppy Gordon on how a film idea comes to life in Hollywood with all the Gucci, influencers, and nepotism one can imagine. With a well-executed, sly soundtrack, this comedy sets the stage for a quintessential Beverly Hills yoga-loving young woman, with her sound bowls in play, who is slightly on the edge of ridiculous to make a film with a group of female industry wannabe insiders.
A brainstorming session ensues while lounging in a private LA club where a myriad of hot-button social and political issues with alarmingly and superficially wrong perspectives are discussed. As they decide upon a storyline for their film so they can attend Sundance after parties and win an Oscar, the banter of these young women brings about extreme elitism toward culturally challenged subjects. They land on the idea of a Mexican woman with her baby in an ICE detention center, at the border, trying to clear her husband of fraudulent drug charges. She is, then, befriended by a strapping hot warden, through a chain-linked fence.
“…they decide upon a storyline for their film so they can attend Sundance after parties and win an Oscar...”
While watching For Your Consideration, I could not help but think of Robert Altman’s The Player, one of my all-time favorite directors and films. Only in 2020, cultural ignorance is unacceptable, and social justice movements are not to be toyed with, as we all know. Yet, we will never get annoyed, bored, or tired with Gordon’s For Your Consideration and her bird’s eye view on the privileged defining our existence, at least metaphorically, because she juxtaposes social awareness with ignorance. She created characters to purposefully lack self-awareness even if their motivations are ones of good intentions. Cinematically, the film is appealing and chic, as the director knowingly builds the lead character from her yoga mantra in Beverly Hills to “coffee, content, and Chanel.”
Gordon’s mindful use of comedy to approach taboo subjects carries all the way through the end of the credits, which is one of my favorite filmmaking styles, utilizing another arena for her story to continue. Bravo to Poppy Gordon with her debut short, For Your Consideration, as she has put forth her style, sass, and vision with pizazz and interest.
For Your Consideration screened at the 2020 Hollyshorts Film Festival.
"…mindful use of comedy to approach taboo subjects...all the way through the end..."
