According to Freudian psychology, when a person dreams about his own death, he is anxious about something. When the dream contains the deaths’ of his loved ones, he is trying to hide a secret desire and replace it with another one. In cinema, the same kind of dream could either be a nightmare or a premonition. In Xavier Greene’s short film “Blue Moon,” Darrin (Ryan Sands), the male lead, dreams about his and his girlfriend Staci’s (Korinne M. Loynes) deaths, yet he doesn’t have the time nor the presence of mind to do anything about it. But, his inaction is precisely the point.
“Blue Moon” essentially covers the life-changing events that take place a day in the lives of Darrin and his girlfriend. Staci, a med school student, pulls out rose petals, candles, and edible lingerie all in an effort to spice up her three-year relationship with Darrin. When he returns home from a discouraging day at work, he doesn’t take the bait because he is too busy stressing about a business account he didn’t land. Darrin opts to chill with his buddies instead, a decision that he surely comes to regret.
At heart, Greene’s film is about irony. You may or may not remember from English class in high school that there are three kinds of irony: verbal, dramatic, and situational. Verbal irony involves a play on words; dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something is going to happen in the story, but the characters do not; and situational irony takes place when what is expected to happen doesn’t happen. Greene messes with the viewer’s mind by incorporating dramatic and situational irony. For instance, the film begins by depicting two masked assailants tying up and gagging a man and a woman. The attackers whip out an hourglass filled with blue sand. Supposedly, if the couple can escape before the sand runs out, then they might be spared. They don’t make it.
Later in the film, when Darrin calls one of his friends, their conversation suggests that perhaps they are responsible for the murder. But this suspicion is quickly corrected. Dramatic irony pops up its nasty head near the end of the film. Greene has already taunted you by allowing you to know what will happen to Darrin and Staci, but just to frustrate you even more, things don’t end exactly how he makes you believe they will. Solidly written, “Blue Moon” could be a brilliant public service announcement: don’t say no to your girlfriend.
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