PARTITIONED HEART
Directed by: Matt Morris
Starring: Travis Mitchell, Malik Uhuru
Rob, a grieving father, is revisited by his deceased son Daniel through a mysterious program on his computer. When Daniel makes a devastating request, Rob must push himself to do the unthinkable.
At just 9 minutes, Partitioned Heart is a short, simple film - basically a couple of conversations between two people, which nevertheless carries a lot of emotional weight.
Travis Mitchell stars as Rob, who has recently lost his son . Its not quite clear how he died but I think he committed suicide. In any case Daniel's death has driven a wedge between Rob and his wife, and there's an inference during a prickly sounding phone call that she blames his workaholic nature as a significant factor in his demise.
However, Rob discovers a program on Daniel's computer which allows him to communicate with him. For Rob, this is a second chance to reconnect with his son and its evident he spends a lot of time at the computer - empty dinner plates and beer bottles are scattered around the desk. However, whatever Daniel was suffering from while alive, is affecting him in his virtual space, and he asks Rob to do the unthinkable - lose his son for a second time. It provides for a great performance from Travis as we watch him quickly process through the different stages of grief - anger, denial, bargaining and finally acceptance.
Production-wise this looks very polished, with strong cinematography and editing. They don't try anything fancy with the computer programme, just a simply rendered globe on screen and let Malik Uhuru do the rest, to bring Daniel to life.
VERDICT:
Partitioned Heart is a simple tale, powerfully told. It carries a lot of emotional resonance, getting bleaker as it goes on but then offers a slight pin-prick of light right at the end.
7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)