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What Was Lost

Written by: Emily Bennette & John-Patrick Driscoll  |   Directed by: Don Swanson |  Genre: Crime  |   Length: 24 minutes

By the end of the movie it had done the job. Told a story and kept me invested. If only more micro titles could be this well done.

  Joel (John Patrick Driscoll) has lost everything he holds dear. His wife. His job. His life. All in search of a manuscript that has been lost to time. As if getting fired wasn’t enough, as soon as he steps through his front door he knew something wasn’t right. Walking in on the “other man” cooking bacon in his kitchen is the very definition of uncomfortable. His wife has been cheating and after a very brief struggle, Joel knows he’s not man enough to take on Anderson (Dustin Helton) in any form of physical way. Adding insult to injury is his wife. Brandi (Elsa Carette) doesn’t share in his grief and doesn’t seem to feel all that guilty. Maybe a little, but it’s more like she has a “I warned you” attitude. During another brief scuffle, Elsa accidentally clocks Joel with a cast iron pan. Thinking she’s killed her husband, she tasks Anderson to bury him. Things don’t go quite as planned though; Joel isn’t “quite” dead. All of this because of a manuscript, and Joel’s inability to juggle life and work and personal glory. So what does What Was Lost ask of you? One question. How far would you go on your search for -well- anything. Would you neglect your life and loved ones? And if you did, who is to blame when things go down the toilet?   This title is deceptively well made. For something that could have been far too complicated for 20 minutes, Don Swanson manages to keep everything moving forward. We never actually see much of Joel’s quest. Only the last bit that happens on his bad day. This does impact the characters development, but not enough to “not” understand what’s been going on. What I consider to be the main scene, when Joel catches his wife cheating on him, was probably one of the low points of the title. It didn’t click with me and I don’t quite know why. But everything else was great! I especially loved how Joel daydreams a little at the end. It added a huge amount of character to his performance.
  I also liked the quick and to the point nature of this title. I know I wrote something on character development earlier, but I also really enjoyed the quickness that this production maintained. For a micro budget film, What Was Lost doesn’t disappoint. I can’t know how everyone will react to this film, only how I did. By the end of the movie it had done the job. Told a story and kept me invested. If only more micro titles could be this well done. Thumbs up.

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