Soft - Contextual Research - Short Film

Soft

I was debating if i should review Soft or not but i absolutely think its one of the most amazing short movies ever made. Soft was created by Simon Ellis, and it really inspired me to create a movie about family drama. Soft really expresses the feelings and emotions between a father and son. Within my own film i explore the emotions and feelings between 2 lost sisters, i think this concept is very interesting and dramatic. Soft won the international jury prize in short filmmaking at the Sundance film festival. Simon Ellis really expresses the violence and braveness of all of the characters in the film. Within the film we see the father being a typical working man in a suit coming home to his son, we already start to question if there is a mother involved in the home or not. We instantly think that the father is the main figure in the family, he should protect his son in every-way but we as an audience challenge that thought when the father gets in a fight with a group of teenagers who previously had a fight with his son. The father tries to not interfere and walks away but he gets followed home. After we find out that the son also had gotten beat up by the same people we as an audience expect the father to go put the teenagers in place but he does not. This film really challenges the stereotypes of a father figure, the son is left on his own to take the situation into his own hands and teach the teenagers a lesson, while his father actually learns how to be this father figure he never was. While watching this short film i really see how much of a change the father has gone through and how the son gained a lot of bravery.

The film itself does not have much dialogue until we reach the conflict between the characters. We could already tell that there was conflict between the father and son when they are home together and do not communicate. We as an audience have been shocked towards the ending where we see the moment of the father getting beat up by the teenagers and the son protecting his father. This film would inspire a lot of people as almost every son/daughter need/want a father that will always protect them no matter what conflict is between them but of course this is challenged within soft. 

I have taken a lot of inspiration from this film because from the beginning I've always wanted to have a father and daughter conflict within my screenplay. Within every screenplay and film itself there is always a beginning middle and end, and always in the ends there is a resolution either it is bad or good. Within Soft we see the that the conflict between the father and son at the end has eased up because now we feel as an audience that they can speak to each-other and really repair their relationship. Within my film and screenplay i also took this information and used it to have a father and daughter conflict where the daughter has always been left alone to do everything in life. There has always beet films and shows expressing a family issue but never in such detail as soft, but also in Soft the issue has already began at the start of the film, and has been resolved in the end. I also used the cold negative dialogue in my screenplay between the father and daughter just like Soft has between the father and son, throughout the entire film the father and son do not speak much to each-other to express their conflict.