Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/28/the-short-film-an-occurrence.html
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Because that’s what we really need right now. More dread.
YMMV, but this filled me with a lot of disbelief. Just hearing a description of the tasks to be done, and most folks I know would’ve said nope. I paused a few times thinking, “You’ve been Black all your life and thought any of this was a good idea?”
Not familiar with this writer/director, but the allusions seemed a bit off (title vs content). Does anything positive begin with the words, “An Occurrence…?” My search did turn up some lighter fare, though:
I thought the disbelief was the point, like the increasingly unbelievable things that happened to Peyton Farquhar, the plantation owner in the original story, as events unfolded.
It’s how some people cope. https://www.slashfilm.com/shudder-subscriptions/
It’s when the disbelief happens that’s significant to me in comparing the two. I liken this to watching Farquhar’s trial, where he’s responding to a confusing charge of desertion from the Union Army, ending with the sentencing.
What could’ve been interesting would be a trial for the main character, with him testifying about what happened that day. The sequence we saw (with an alternate conclusion where he meets up with the woman on the phone and everything went as planned) could be the dream. IRL, his buddy on the phone is revealed to have set him up. and it ends with him really behind bars. It’s less bleak than repeating an execution, but still puts the unbelievable things into context as a fantasy - how he wished events had unfolded.
Yeah. My wife likes slasher movies. I hate em. I talked to her about this, and she told me that when she had a breast cancer scare, she found comfort in reading Stephen King short stories while she was waiting for the results. Different strokes.
I’d watch that, too!
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