This production won Best Cinematography at the Eastern Europe Film Festival in September 2025. That special award went to the Director of Photography, Reuben Evans. The lighting and color here by Evans are gorgeous. Almost every frame is warm, cozy and inviting, which is appropriate for a romantic story. The look of the film is comparable at times to that of sitting next to a nicely lit fireplace. Yet, instead of just being a relationship flick, this picture is also revealed to be a "hood film" or one involving gangsters and drug dealers within the African American and/or Latino community. For those "hood" scenes, there is a coldness and starkness by Evans that beautifully contrasts the so-called romantic moments.
In short films, there's often not enough time for full character arcs. Usually, an actor has to standout in whatever ways they can. It's a lot easier to standout when you're playing the bad guy or the villain of the story. Such is the case for Jordan Nancarrow who plays Jason Summers, the cigar-smoking, drug dealer who is the epitome of cool with his leather jacket and tooth pick in mouth. Yet, he's the ultimate heel who will certainly pop a cap in your ass without thinking twice. Despite his limited screen time, Nancarrow definitely is the most memorable part of this story. If this film were expanded into feature length, more of his background with the protagonist would need to be fleshed out. They went to school together, so more about their relationship then and even now would need to be explored, such as we got in films like Juice (1992), Menace II Society (1993), or even Clockers (1995).
Those hood films were always about the push-and-pull from African American men, and occasionally Black and Brown women, to escape street life and the drug trade, which infected minority communities in the 80's and 90's. When it comes to the protagonist here, Noah, played by Justin P. Slaughter, it seems as if he's aware of that street life and drug trade. It seems as if he witnessed a lot of it growing up but somehow avoided it, probably by joining the military. He mentions being in the Navy. Getting out of the military, he struggles to find a job and an apartment of his own. If this film is expanded, writer Brandon Newman would definitely need to delve into that struggle of veterans, especially Black veterans trying to go back to civilian life.
It might also be interesting to have gotten some information on Noah's family. It's not clear where Noah is living prior to him moving into the apartment with Jason. Is he staying with his parents, siblings or cousins? When Noah realizes that Jason is a drug dealer, it's a question of why wouldn't he go back to living with his family. We have to assume that he must not have any family or at least not any nearby, but we never learn where he's living before moving in with Jason. Is he homeless and living on the streets or in a shelter? That would hopefully be explored in a feature-length version of this story as well.
After watching this short though, the one film that came to mind is Doug McHenry's Jason's Lyric (1994). That film was about how a relationship between a man and a woman in the ghetto of Houston, Texas, is tested when that man's connection to drug dealers and gangsters threaten to kill them both. Director Clarito Zapanta has the potential to create a feature that could be the next Jason's Lyric in terms of the kind of erotic, hood films that dominated the 90's.
Not Rated but for mature audiences.
Running Time: 22 mins.
Available on Amazon Prime on June 19.