To Be Alone (2017): A Haunting Chill in the Air

To Be Alone (2017; Indie Short Subject) - As a child, if we are lucky, it might be a pet. As we get older, it might be a parent. When we get settled in life, married or with a partner, change is even more drastic when letting go is letting go of your everything. When one understands that time seeing your mother staring out a window, not seeing you. A light in her eyes is missing, a stone cold expression on her face as she looks deep into somewhere, like looking for someone, who is never coming back. There is no set way for dealing with loss, for dealing with change so drastically ..what might we do not To Be Alone?

To Be Alone is the story of William, sensitively played by Timothy J. Cox in a haunting performance, who has suffered that very loss in his life, and letting go is played out in dramatic fashion in the cold chill of winter to match the cold chill of emptiness that has entered his life.

To Be Alone was scripted and directed by Matthew Mahler. Cox and Mahler have done work together before to good effect. What I have seen of Mahler so far he likes to write to allegory in his stories with a brevity of dialogue, if any, using instead a play of events and a setting of mood to tell his story. Timothy J. Cox is the perfect actor for this utilizing his talent in the silent performance with Mahler's story to create a haunting and chilling mood honed raw.

Mahler's direction reminds me of Kubrick. He delineates space in his framing and uses it to draw attention to his subject. His composition allows no distractions, unless he wants them to be there for the story. In previous work of his, working in a beautifully cluttered scene he was able to draw that clutter into the focus of his frame. A talented musician he has scored this himself using vibrant heartfelt beats to up the tension tightened further with claustrophobic framing, and somber melodies in a stark framing to draw in the chill of loneliness. He shows himself to be a master of creating mood without having a word uttered.

Timothy J. Cox is a master of the unspoken performance being able to use emotion and body language to great effect. I don't even know how conscious he is of his performance. When he enters a scene, it looks like Timothy J. Cox, but it's his character that has entered the scene, not him. And when he is able to do that without uttering a word, now that's masterful.

Oddly, when I started writing this review, even though I knew where I was going with the rating, and that has not changed, I was a little fuzzy about exactly the relevance of events in the story. As I wrote my intro, things sunk in. That sneaky Mahler played me with his allegory, and it works beautifully.

Mahler's writing and direction combined with his own score and a wonderfully timed backdrop of gospel blues by The Staple Singers, Cox's brilliant and heartbreaking performance, and the ambiance of the dead of winter put a haunting chill in the air.

I give it 5 Daggers

Availability

Watch To Be Alone on Vimeo.

Check out the IMDB page.