A man wakes up trapped in a cargo elevator, as time goes by, his spends his time speaking with the disembodied voice from the security room and begins to lose his mind.
Written and directed by Anthony Leone, Assumption is a one location film that does make the most of its location and that trapped feeling that happens when one is stuck in an elevator for an extended period of time. The film explores themes of guilt and purgatory in direct and indirect ways while also showing the true colors of its only onscreen character. However, this could have been done in less time as here the film feels overly long and repetitive after a while. The ideas and the story are good, but the way it’s executed feels like something is either missing or it could have been trimmed by a lot.
Playing the only onscreen character is actor Brian Patrick Butler who does well creating an insufferable character going through a bad situation and losing his patience as things don’t move along while he is stuck. His character is one that shows some layers and some interesting traits, things that feel like they came from his performance. He does make the most out of it and give a strong performance that supports the entire film basically on his shoulders alone. Being the only character in a film, this was necessary to make it work and he does.
The film is shot in an interesting manner with parts of it saturated with red, something that may or may not represent the character’s descent into hell. The film looks very interesting on that front and it’s a strong look for a short film. This adds a lot to the story in a way that is more visual and feels a bit visceral. The film’s one location does force its visuals to be strong or fail and they are thankfully strong.
Assumption has a strong visual setting and a very good performance from the lead, but it is however much too long as it takes too much time on some of the scenes and creates an uneven feeling for its whole. It’s an interesting short and exercise in character development that is mostly entertaining. The film looks good, has some strong themes and plays with the idea of purgatory and how one is alone with their thoughts in the end.