Light, written and directed by Daniel Talbott, starts with a man (Will Pullen) sitting in his car in a church parking lot, the radio blasting a sermon, a heavy weight lies upon him. He talks like he’s in confession about the dark path his life has taken him. He laments about his marriage, the moment he came out to his parents, and a father who said he loved him. He speaks to the abuse from a time in high school—a man who wanted him for sex and nothing else, who didn’t love him.
“…a man sits in his car in a church parking lot, the radio blasting a sermon, a heavy weight lies upon him.”
In his current marriage, he declares his husband is a dick, and it has become the ongoing pattern of mental and sexual abuse. His marriage is a slow suffocation, and every moment he feels like a man drowning in his own skin. He is a man without hope.
Light is the story of a man giving a video confessional in his car, and his words weigh as heavily as Will Pullen’s performance. It’s so authentic. I’m watching the short, thinking this is as real as any confessional I’ve seen. Pullen masterfully captures the feeling of self-hatred stemming from his homosexuality and the sexual abuse that keeps coming back like a bad habit. The film is simple and powerful. That’s all you can ask for in a dramatic short like this.
"…simple and powerful."
