Stories of family often lie on the spectrum between joy and regret. Ben McHugh’s short film, Gregory, is one of regret. A solitary elder gentleman, Gregory (Godfrey J. Rayner), is sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons and singing to himself a little song called “Shadrack” (based on friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Book of Daniel).
His quiet is pleasantly interrupted by a young girl, Skye (Madelyn McHugh), who is curious about the song. Gregory remembers fondly singing the song with his son when he was a young parent and now proudly passes it on to Skye.
“…sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons and singing to himself a little song called ‘Shadrack’…”
Writer/director McHugh’s film is as beautiful as it is simple. Great care was taken to ensure his shot compositions matched the film’s tone to place us in the right mood for this short and sweet encounter.
Gregory is a quick six minutes and gets straight to its emotional point. It’s about those small moments between a parent and child and how time (or loss) has a way of making these memories fade if we’re not careful.
For screening information for Gregory, visit the Brooklyn Oz Productions official website.
"…it's about those small moments between a parent and child..."
