Famous actor Lydia Walters has died, and a small group of “friends” gather to remember her. Of course, everyone seems too interested in their own lives to really offer much insight about Lydia to the camera recording said gathering, and anyway Lydia wasn’t necessarily beloved by those who knew her, as their memories reveal; no is even really sure how she died. Still, it’s an opportunity to be in front of a camera, grieving for attention, so who can pass it up?
Your appreciation of Kevin Machate’s short film #RIP is going to come down to your sense of humor. For the most part, it’s pretty one-note; Lydia is a jerk to everyone, and they all have issues with her in some way or another. If you find her treating everyone poorly funny, or you enjoy the stereotypical caricatures of actors, agents and the like in the film, then this will go over just fine.
If, however, this isn’t your cup of tea, or the joke gets old, then its fourteen minute running time can seem like an eternity while you wait for it to try something new out. And eventually it does have a twist, but it doesn’t make you appreciate the short more so much as make you question everything that came before it. In other words, if you’re digging it from the start, you’ll likely enjoy it enough through the end; if it ain’t your thing, it never gets better.
I enjoyed a joke here and there, but for the most part was not that impressed. Again, it just felt one-note, and the characters were neither endearing nor entertaining. Trotting out stereotypes of self-absorbed actors and wannabe celebrities can be funny if you do something more with them than just point out the stereotypes.
Now, while I didn’t enjoy the content, I do think the acting was solid. Everyone commits to their characters, whether I liked them or not, especially the unseen Lydia, who we hear instead (voiced by Marilyn Ghigliotti). No one does a poor job, I just don’t think they were narratively given much to work with. The film is also technically sound, so no issues along those lines.
All told, #RIP just didn’t do it for me. I think it got a smile out of me once, and for a comedy short that’s not really a good thing. I just needed something more.
This film was submitted for review through our Submission for Review system. If you have a film you’d like us to see, and we aren’t already looking into it on our own, you too can utilize this service.
