Reynaldo Dumas’ short film Moving-In-Law captures a brief, yet eye-opening moment between sisters. The timing just wasn’t right for Brigitte as she’s moving into her new apartment. Bad timing because she suffered a shoulder injury and is down to one useable arm. Fortunately, she has family in her sister Lisa and brother-in-law Aaron, to come in and help.
Lisa is the alpha in the relationship as she tells Brigitte to stop unpacking and let Aaron and her do the heavy lifting. Soon, Lisa gets a call from work and leaves Aaron and Brigitte alone to finish the job.
“…she tells Brigitte to stop unpacking and let Aaron and her do the heavy lifting.”
In his five-minute short, writer/director, Dumas beautifully captures a moment in this family dynamic. He proves himself capable of telling a story on film, working with actors, and is well on his way in his film career. Moving-In-Law is a nice tight package of a day-in-the-life story.
Dumas’ short is good. I just wish there was a single moment to push the story to great. Story-wise, Moving-In-Law was solid, though arguably predictable. It needed a moment to keep us on our toes, wondering what could happen next or how are they going to resolve this problem. It could have been digging deep into the emotional moment between two of its characters or adding an expected twist to the main event or aftermath. It just needed something to push it over the edge and stand out from similar stories and short films like it.
"…proves himself capable of telling a story on film, working with actors..."
