The Austrialian short “Still Life” focuses on an aging divorced man who joins an art class and becomes smitten with the female model hired to pose for the students. It seems she has boyfriend troubles, so the man takes her home. The next day, he drives her back to the apartment where her boyfriend locked her out. He breaks down the door and she retrieves her things. Her boyfriend returns and a fight starts, but the lovers quickly reconcile. The older man, left out and feeling like a fool, goes home and burns down his house.
To its credit, “Still Life” is a credible calling card for newbie filmmaker Tahnee McGuire. The film is well-produced (special kudos to Callen Green’s moody cinematography), and McGuire gets fine performances out of Nicholas Eadie as the older man and Victoria Thaine as the mercurial girl. If the fiery ending seems fairly out of place, the enigmatic expression on Eadie’s face as he watches the cleansing through flames is more than memorable.
