Pieces(Short Film) Review
Plot(from imdb)
A young woman unearths a supernatural presence at her recently deceased grandmother's home when she finds a single jigsaw piece and a note that reads "FINISH IT".
Im sure like me, many of you have had to deal with the emotional rollercoaster that goes with sorting through the possessions of a recently deceived love one. One minute you can be grieving their loss, then just by catching glimpse of an old photo or a trinket that was personal to them can bring a wave of other emotions flooding back.
Director Dan Sunley, uses this unenviable task as the backdrop to his unsettling short, Pieces. Theresa(Kate Sandison), has just lost her Grandmother. While sorting through her belongings, she finds a book with strange writing scribbled in and a jigsaw piece(attached to a silver chain) stuck to a page with the words “FINISH IT”. Not knowing where the rest of the puzzle is, she settles down for the night.
While laid in bed though, she hears strange noises coming from the loft. while investigating she notices a strange box with an unlocked padlock attached. Once it is open,she realised that it contains the rest of the elusive jigsaw puzzle.
After pouring a glass of wine, she set about putting the puzzle together, realising that it depicts a photo from her own childhood birthday party, but with a strange dark shadowy figure lurking in the background.
The next day, Theresa’s friend Melissa visits her with a bottle of wine. While Theresa goes out to the car Mel decides to take the piece off the chain and finish the puzzle. As I'm sure you can guess, that isn't a good idea!
Although Pieces is only a short(at 14 minutes), the production values look really impressive.The direction is solid and Sunley does a great job of building up the tension and sense of dread. One of the things i am constantly on the lookout for is a film that scares me, and in Pieces, although not terrified, i was on edge almost throughout. I also think that the director got the amount of jump scares just right for the movies running time.
Kate Sandison’s portrayal of Theresa was sold, and it would be interesting to see what she could do with the role if the film was longer and had more time tot develop her character and show the grieving process. The other speaking actress in the film, Louise Willoughby played her character as a bubbly airhead type , and while she will never win any awards for the part, did what needed to be done.
Pieces, in my opinion was a good example of what Dan Sunley is capable of. It was(according to imdb) his first film work since his 2006 work, You're Fired!!. Hopefully this indicates that he is ready to get back into the swing of things, and i for one would like to see what he can do with a longer film.
6/10