50 Comments

Loved it! It had just the right amount of emotion, discomfort and the unexpected. It's also really interesting to see something from you in a different format than the one I'm used to seeing here on Substack. Thanks for sharing.

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Yes it's been about six months that I'm about and I had yet to share anything somehow. Thanks for watching!

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Loved it! The main was so expressive and real feeling and the dog was perfect- thanks for sharing, Remi.

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Tracy, thanks for taking the time to watch it!

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Thank you for sharing this Remy! As others have pointed out, it’s great to see the work you’re doing outside of Substack and get an insight into your career as a filmmaker.

I really enjoyed the film, specifically the range of emotions you’re able to achieve in such a short time. The bulldog, for one thing, was a great touch. I occasionally teach a class on the office novel, and so I always enjoy art that is able to extract something human and profound from otherwise dull, inhuman, bureaucratic settings. Thanks again.

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Thanks for watching Jacob 🙌

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I unexpectedly started crying-I guess it means it's good

(something vague from Kafka there..also, even Saramago, not to compare the circumstances...also, hence the reason I haven't gone personally to SSI just yet..I'm afraid at certain point they'll cuff me...)

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Thanks Chen! What is SSI by the way?

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Social Security Institute(if I'm correct))

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Yes, Saramago's Blindness, a great work.

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Impressive stuff, Remy! I didn't know what to expect from one moment to the next.

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Brilliant!

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Thanks Nicole.

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Very engaging. Cathartic, as great theatre. With a relatable protagonist driven by desperate frustration o act out — something we rarely if ever allow ourselves. Thanks for the vicarious pleasure of that crazy ending. And the dog! Perfect. Can’t wait to see what you do with Adam’s story.

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Thanks Julie!

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Love the dog. The humans were also excellent. What a delight. Unpredictable and emotionally engaging from beginning to end. That's quite an achievement.

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Thanks Caz!

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The facial expressions on all of the actors, even those just standing or sitting in the back or foreground were never over done or forced, and the slight changes that flitted across facial muscles seemed to portray the kind of fragmentary assessments and responses that either accumulate into a real response or never quite add to fruition - in other words, far more complex than the more pure and deliberate facial and body postural expressions of lesser actors under lesser directors.

There were so many details that fed into this short it has to have taken a massive amount of attention to reads so perfectly like a normal slice of time snipped out of this grim place where suppressed desperation presses up against inured powerlessness in the guise of power... until someone, perhaps naive enough to expect to count for something, refuses to play their part.

I find it interesting it's described as comedy. I see the almost comedic touches such as the dog licking the leg but that seems more a demonstration of a natural sympathy the humans have become too numb to express. I also find it interesting the others in line, seeing the protagonist being led away (although finally with some "leave to remain" papers he might well now forfeit?) seem to choose potentially being arrested to being ignored any longer. Of course, here is where the film steps away from the likely calculus of people in that situation and enacts their inner emotional cries to be seen, recognized as of importance, reacted to. Perhaps this externalization of their internal impulses is what permits the label "comedy"?

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Thanks a lot for watching, and for such an insightful comment 💙

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It’s beautiful. I’m a fan of shorts (and just wrote about them earlier this week). There’s such a range of emotions and complexity in topic that can be spanned in just 10-20 minutes. It’s truly inspirational. On topic of your short, it hit all the highs for me. Citizenship status and lack of is a constant tightrope walk for those experiencing it. I come from a family of immigrants and know this uncertainty well.

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Thanks Beth, I'm genuinely glad you enjoyed it!

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Well done to you and team! Sharp editing and great acting, the emotions are palpable… and way too relatable 🤣

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Thanks Jeremy!

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Damn, that intro was dopamine enriched! Felt like something from the Andy Warhol era

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Thanks man!

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Merveilleux. C'est bien réalisé, avec des éléments de l'univers absurde de Kafka. J'ai eu affaire à l'immigration dans trois pays et il y a tellement de vérité dans ce court métrage. I might write about it, but right now it is still painful. Most people have false ideas about immigrants and immigration. This short film helped add some honesty to the discussion. "Leave to remain" is the kind of bureaucratic language that is found in the government.

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Thanks a bunch Perry. Leave to Remain is in fact exactly how a long term VISA is called in the UK :)

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Loved it, the actors, the pacing, the full-circle of it. The dog! ha so great.

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Thanks for watching Deirdre!

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Great film. Uncomfortable. And important.

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Thanks for watching Imola. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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Brilliant and achingly sad. Should be compulsory viewing for immigration workers.

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Thanks so much Peter.

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