Tsunami (2022): A short film about a broken marriage

Tsunami (2022) is a short film directed by Joel Shafer. The film has Earl McWilliams and Franchesca Davis as its only cast. This fifteen minute long film touches on the topic of toxicity in marriages and lack of communication between married couples.

Trailer:

Raymond and Janine have been through hell and back. Due to a recent death in the family, the couple has not yet come to terms with this recent event. Both have always managed to cope with the storm, but this particular storm can, however, at the end of their relationship.

The good:

The film’s main focus is on the sensitive subject of committing infidelity in marriages. Raymond and Janine were once in love, but now they are not. Over time, they have both begun to slip further away from their married relationship.
However, it is only when Janine is told of Raymond’s infidelity that the storm breaks out.

A notable aspect of the film was its long-lasting camera cuts. I noticed a few monologues which was played out at once without breaks, something that is quite commendable.
Another thing that I liked was the direction of the film. That camera angles were not very stable, which gave one raw effect to the film. That camera footage felt more genuine and honest because of this.

While I could sense that something was going on plot twist at the end was still a breath of fresh air for me. The final scene added another layer to Janine’s character, and the audience will understand her feelings far better after watching until the end.

That final scene with Janine holding her phone to her ear and a single tear rolling out on her cheek was shot beautifully. It looked perfectly like ‘actions speak louder than words’, and one could feel Janine’s emotions through the screen.

The bad:

Although it was a brave step to experiment with the topic of infidelity in less than fifteen minutes, I feel that plot was missing in various ways. It felt unoriginal and even a little unconvincing that the couple talked about such a serious topic in just a few minutes.

A major drawback of the film was its script. That dialogues felt repeated and sometimes overly dramatic. It did not help that delivery of these dialogues was also done in an unnatural way. It contrasted the raw camera images and removed focus from the plot.

Although I have no complaints about Earl McWilliams’ performance, I was not particularly pleased with the female lead and producer, Franchesca Davis’ play. I felt that her delivery of dialogues was lacking in various ways and her dead eyes did not convey the emotions properly.

In the end, I did not like erratic soundtrack were added randomly between the scenes to give them a more dramatic feel. It felt quite distracting and unnecessary.

Judgments:

The tsunami was certainly not one of my favorite short films as I have seen this year. Even fifteen minutes of the film felt too longand I got tired of the couple’s back and forth arguments, only to end up in a dramatic revelation.

Directed by: Joel Shafer
Produced by: Franchesca Davis, Mike Weldon, Joel Shafer
Cast: Franchesca Davis, Earl McWilliams