A well-known song says that 'love is a drug', and we all can vouch for that because one day it gets you, and there is no way to get out of this addiction. In David C. Murphy's 'Left', the protagonist, Jack (played by Ross Warner), tries to find love through a dating app. He goes on many dates, but each person has their flaws, and soon enough, they will find out how little compatibility there is between them. The reasons not to date someone range from different personalities to small annoying things that can ruin a first impression. One day, Jack goes out with a girl, Emily (played by Chelsea Grace), and they hit it off in an instant. They find each other interesting, attractive, they have things in common, and at last, everything seems perfect. But Jack has a secret he is unwilling to talk about: something that once was a fun activity, but that in the meantime became a life ruining addiction.
David C. Murphy's short is a breath of fresh air for us. First of all, we loved the filming technique, making the whole relationship being viewed through a dating app filter. Everything that is not suitable can be swiped left, and everything that brings pleasure deserves a swipe right. The perfect circle that starts at the beginning of the film and ends with the last scene proves that the old techniques are always working in a new approach if you know how to do it. Luckily for us, Murphy did it perfectly. Secondly, we enjoyed immensely the narcotic way in which love through dating apps is presented in this short. The script foregrounds all the flaws and the perks of using this kind of medium and goes as far as presenting it as an addiction with almost no cure. Ross Warner does a fantastic work portraying Jack, a young man with high hopes of finding love at every corner, being the youngsters' prototype nowadays trying to skip the chit-chat and find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
'Left' is not just a short fiction film, but a sociologic case study that deserves to be in every film enthusiast's spotlight.
Written by Vlad A.G