Have you ever thought about how easily your fate could change? In just a blink of an eye, your life can take a turn, and the beautiful unexpected may happen. In ‘Cruel World’, fate plays the main role. John, a young man, dreams about the one that got away and prepares to find her. He is thorough with everything he does – and leaves no stone unturned whilst going to confront fate. But as it turns out in most cases, life has other plans for him.
‘Cruel World’ starts on a very dark tone – John, played by Dylan Mask (who is also the director), has a routine similar to Patrick Bateman’s in ‘American Psycho’. The score consisting of a track with an overly-repetitive note hints to a break from a routine that is never too comfortable. As it is, the repetitive sound becomes uncomfortable and predicts a series of unusual events that are not supposed to happen. The symbolic side of this short shines brightly even from the beginning. Words become useless, and they fade when compared with the small actions that seem to be worth more than one can expect. For example, almost near the end, there is a scene where John flashes a gun. Nothing special here, but when John opens the barrel we see the truth behind one of the sentences he said a few minutes back.
Dylan Mask plays an impeccable role here, being both mysterious and scary. The unpredictability of his character is foregrounded with great ease from the first scene and goes on in a rather consistent manner. At no point in the short did we have second thoughts about his quality performance, and we think it is safe to say that this portrayal of a tuned-down psycho suits him perfectly.
What is impressive in this short film is the ending. After the story raised some specific expectations, the ending comes and turns the narrative upside down, offering one of the greatest twists we have seen lately. It is hard to contain ourselves whilst speaking of such stories, and that’s why we gladly recommend Dylan Mask’s short film for the sole purpose of experimenting with a script that seemed to be extremely predictable, but fortunately proved to be extremely authentic.
Written by Vlad A. G