A woman finds out that the world has ended while on a hike. While there aren’t too many folks around, one man shows up and proves to her that perhaps, alone is better.
Written, directed, and produced by Virginia Root, Dead Weight takes a well-known and well-loved genre the new-post-apocalypse, one we have been seeing more and more of lately (and have been for about 28 years). The fresh apocalypse here has barely made its way to folks who were remote or removed from most society, hence why the lead is alive and looking like she left home not that long ago, same for other folks she meets. This shows a careful attention to details and how to make clean clothes and undamaged bodies make sense. The character development is not entirely super deep, or rather there isn’t much, but it’s a short window on short period of time right after the apocalypse. The writing here is interesting, it makes sense, and it doesn’t push things too, too far. It’s on point and it works well with the direction.
The cast here is minimal with just the lead woman and the man she meets on her hike. This lead, named Grace, is played by Alexandra Renzo who makes Grace into a human first, a character second. She does fantastic work here by not over-acting or under-acting, she’s incredibly natural about her acting, giving her character nuance and making her central to the story and viewers’ attention, but without screaming “main character” loudly. Joining her as Aaron is Griffin Newman who portrays his character as the quintessential annoying man. He’s there, he doesn’t need to be, he’s needy, he’s bossy without proper knowledge of the situation, he’s a grating character and Newman makes him come to life with every breath making him more and more annoying. Rounding out the cast is Gary Shaw as a dead guy which he does beautifully well.
Technically speaking, the cinematography by Austin Madrid looks good with good use of natural light and framing that shows an understanding of what needs to be seen and what should stay hidden. The images here are great and work well with the story. The music by Henry O works quite well as well.
Dead Weight is an interesting take on the early post-apocalyptic film sub-sub-genre with minimal carnage and minimal number of people involved, it’s a close story with just what it needs put on screen. The film here makes the most of very little, creating its own world and its own charm of sort. The acting is solid, the writing and direction are really good and fitting, the cinematography and music add to everything in just the right way. It’s one of those shorts that is just right at its length and shows that not all stories need to be stretched to 90 minutes or longer.