Probably one of the better short films I’ve seen in a while. Not all of them end up being weird or misleading in one way or another, but also not all of them are made by Traveling.
The film begins with our protagonist, Bernard, acted by Elliot Miville-Deschenes as his experience is narrated by Gilles Renaud. Bernard is nine years old and today is his birthday, so naturally he’s turning 10, right? Wrong. He wants to stop growing up. Mainly because his parents don’t seem to do very well at being parents. His mother (Louise Lapare) is in a hurry to see him get older.
And so with things going as such, Bernard makes himself an anti-growing suit to stop him from aging. Yeah, good luck with that. At least it’s not something that turns everything into water. The suit proves pointless as all the other students stare at him and he gets in trouble with every single teacher.
Anyway, after a bad day at school, Bernard comes home to his family who seem excited to see him. Bernard’s mother sees the suit as a joke and pulls it apart. Great birthday so far. So now what? Bernard works on a new plan to prevent growth. Let’s just say, it, well, wasn’t too weird. It shows that one can prove a point sometimes if they want to.
This was an interesting film that I really enjoyed. The story was simple and very interesting, the characters were unique, and everything fit together. While I was a bit unsure about the ending, I think it actually does kind of show that you have to take drastic measures sometimes if you want to show you can be your own person. It’s risky though. Not bad for something written (and directed ) by two people.
(Image: HebiFot)