A short film by Ian Cottage, broadcast by the BBC Film Network
Keel is a chilling piece from director and writer, Ian Cottage. It is a cleverly woven tale of friendship, fate, obsession and betrayal. Created back in 2008, I find it hard to believe I have missed this for 3 years. That said, it’s better late than never and I honestly believe that this will stay on my top 10 shorts list for quite some time to come.
The film follows a father and daughter, as they arrive for a holiday by the sea. The place, however, is less than desirable. It’s an old – and very worn – beach house, on a deserted coastline, with people’s belongings in place, those of people who clearly left in a hurry. Almost like they never left at all.
While playing on the beach, the father, Alex, discovers an old boat buried in the sand. He and his daughter, Jo, begin do dig out the old craft. While Jo becomes quickly tired with the idea of it, it becomes Alex’s obsession to find what lies beneath – spurred on by some strange noises heard in the night.
The plot to this film is very straight forward. It’s a ghost story, but with some really raw themes left completely exposed. It has the chilling moments you expect from any film of the horror/psychological genre, but you are also able to look a lot deeper, should you want, with a terrific character creation allowing you to really have the ability to analyse them.
The exploratory work by this film into its themes is done truly fantastically. The theme of human obsession is one particular theme which really shone through for me. Whether it’s obsession to protect a child, or just an obsession to satisfy curiosity or just to rebel, this film seems to contain a message of warning. Focussing too much on one thing in particular, seems to mean that you will probably miss something else – something that could be of much greater importance. Leading on from this, the relationship between (what we can only assume) is two fathers and daughters is also under close scrutiny in this film. With one father seeing the dangers, the other not – it appears to be saying that whether you know danger lies in wait or not, you cannot go through life on your own, help from others is needed.
The soundtrack to this film is completely minimalist. Along with the other themes, the sound seems to be a theme unto itself, re-occurring throughout, just as the others do. Although I like music in films of all genres, I feel that the director made completely the right choice in, for all intents and purposes, leaving it out. It really brought out the barren and lonely atmosphere even more.
The acting throughout, was really good. Although not a dialogue-heavy piece, the performance given by both of the main characters (played by Walt James and Antonia Moore) was really good for a film of this level.
Throughout, Keel tugs on basic human emotions and as a viewer I felt completely absorbed, yet utterly helpless towards the climax. For a film of 20 minutes in length, I feel that this is an amazing feat. It is this feat, for me, that makes it a must watch short film.
This film is featured by the BBC Film Network and was screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival, 2009.
You can view this short film below, it has been taken from the BBC Film Network.
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