Presten Brooks’ short film, Torn Together, reminds us how friendships from our youth can be the most difficult to maintain, and how life sweeps us forward.
Skai (Jasmine Lee Brim) and Amy (Devon Miller) are inseparable. It’s the mid-1990s, and the two teenagers are together in Amy’s bedroom, obsessing over the band Torn Together — so obsessed that Skai wrote their own song and Amy recorded it on VHS. Before you know it, Skai’s song blows up on MTV, and suddenly she’s out of high school and on tour with…Torn Together. Desperately missing Skai, Amy records messages on cassette tapes that Skai can listen to on her Walkman. The problem is Skai is too busy to send tapes back.
Out on tour, Skai is barely holding it together, and it takes a pep talk from Torn Together’s drummer (Shawn Singleton) to calm her nerves before a show. When the tour is over, Amy confronts Skai in front of their high school. Amy lets it all out: Skai forgot her, abandoned her, and let every tape go unanswered. Skai admits she was wrong and is convinced she can fix this.
“Amy lets it all out: Skai forgot her, abandoned her, and let every tape go unanswered.”
Look…how many of your friends from high school do you keep up with? My answer is zero. We all moved on, and every so often, I miss that time spent standing in line to watch Return of the Jedi or engaging in a rousing game of Dungeons & Dragons.
For Amy and Skai, the bond ran even deeper. Both lost their parents and were living in different situations. All they had was one another, and as one became famous, the other became known as a superstar’s friend.
What Presten Brooks does so well is tell the story of a meeting between two friends where their relationship is on the line. In just a few moments, we get a couple of flashbacks that set the stage perfectly. This is not your typical argument. Brooks then slowly raises the stakes on Skai’s mistake. The clash is well written as the two make their case, and then the ending…oomph. It’s not easy to tell authentic stories about the lives of us normal people. Presten Brooks has a firm grasp on it.
"…the two make their case, and then the ending…oomph."
