Mayfly

The self-help industry rakes in billions of dollars each year. Leaders and influences build fortunes, helping clients and customers during the darkest of times. Keith Andreen and Katrina Law’s dramatic short, Mayfly, wonders what happens when tragedy strikes the world’s foremost self-help guru.

Aaron Driscoll (Warren Kole) is a world-renowned self-help guru. His message is simple: The Future is Yours. His teachings focus on moving forward in life and confronting our scars in order to find healing. One night, while alone in his palatial estate, Aaron is visited by an armed hooded figure. This figure, Daniella (Katrina Law), confronts the man as a fraud. She heard all of his speeches and read every book, but she has been unable to move on. In fact, Daniella knows that Aaron has scars from his past that he himself refuses to confront. That scar is the loss of a loved one.

Unlike most short films, which tend to disparage self-help gurus, the message here is solid. One must confront tragedy to move on in life. Most of the time, having someone by your side when walking down that dark path provides the support you need to come out the other side. Unfortunately for Aaron, he’s unable to practice what he preaches.

“His teachings focus on moving forward in life and confronting our scars…”

Mayfly is an actor’s showcase for Kole and Law. They give incredible performances as people tackling grief on opposite ends of the spectrum. Kole plays Aaron as a man who deals with grief by immersing himself ironically in his work to move past the grief as if the event never happened. Law gives a poignant emotional performance as a mother who had lived every moment of tragedy by her dying daughter’s side… a lifeline to her daughter and unable to save her in the end. The story also introduces an object (no spoilers here) that brilliantly pushes the emotion to the next level.

Yes, the short is mostly two people talking for 25 minutes, but the script is insightful about how death profoundly affected our lead characters. As both talk about their grief, director Andreen finds the right moments to accompany the dialogue with flashbacks from the past.

Mayfly is a short film about grief boasting a thoughtful script and story that’s well-anchored by two wonderful performances. We humans all experience loss, but we don’t have to experience it alone.

For screening information, visit the Mayfly official website.