I’m usually faced with a conundrum when I pop in a tape or DVD and realize that it’s a collection of short films by the same filmmaker. The moral dilemma is, do I watch ’em all and review the collection as a whole, or do I sift through each film and handle each one as an individual short? As I generally like to pair up two short film reviews with a feature film in my standard “review package,” and as I’m running low on short films, I decided to treat the collection of shorts from director Philip Scarborough as individual films. While I’m sure you’re utterly fascinated by this glimpse into my working methods — a glimpse which, incidentally, enabled me to pad this review by a good 125 words or so — I found myself fascinated as well by “The Light,” the first film in this collection.
Well, “intrigued” is probably more like it, as this film, at least on the surface, is about nothing but a man literally running away from himself. That’s all: six minutes of an auto-chase scene, (as opposed to an “automobile chase scene”), over the rivers and through the woods; a man holding the titular light chasing, well, himself for, well, some reason. Suffice it to say that this unusual, yet oddly memorable outing from Scarborough is as long on suspense and atmosphere as it is short on answers.
But it is intriguing as hell…and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next in the collection.
