Following her mother’s passing, Aim returns to her chosen home of New York City where she cares for her brother and suddenly finds herself faced with the reappearance of a past love.
Written and directed by Artima Sakulkoo, It Happened in August takes a look at the life of one young woman navigating through life, grief, dreams, family obligation, and where all leaves her once all is said and done. Her approach to things changes as people come and go in her life, as her responsibilities change, and as she, herself, changes. There is more than a lot here, and it is written in a way that it does not feel like too much; it all makes sense when put together. The characters here are not particularly complex in how they are written, but the direction and performances make them more well-rounded, more human. The writing here is good, and the direction is solid, bringing this 15-minute long short film together in just the right way.
The cast here is fairly limited in terms of characters who have lines, bringing a few to the front with the story revolving around Aim and her family and friends. Aim is played by writer-director Artima Sakulkoo who brings the character to life in the best way possible. This is clearly her film, and she makes the most of it. Her performance centers the film and makes it clear who the film is about while also being unpretentious and down to Earth. There is a lot crammed in the 15 minutes here and most of it involved her directly. She’s the center, she knows it, but also, she shares the spotlight and makes the film more interesting in the process. Joining her as the above-mentioned past love is Linsy Segarra who gives a lovely performance in a part that helps move the story forward and helps bring in more emotions beyond grief and stress (yes, stress is an emotion sometimes). The rest of the cast gets limited screentime and very few lines shared between all of them. They all do decent, which is a testament to the writing and direction. Everyone here understood their assignments and made their parts feel natural and fitting for the story at hand.
The film’s cinematography by director of photography Warut Snidvongs and the editing by Lucciana Pascual help give the film its look and pace as well as its feel. The work these two produce here is lovely and goes together perfectly.
It Happened in August is a lovely, emotionally charged, effect film about grief, letting go, learning to move on, and going for what one wants in life. Here is a whole lot put into this film’s 15 minutes run time, and the filmmaker really makes the most of the time given. This film somehow feels neither rushed nor slow; it feels like it’s just right and made to make the audience think without being patronizing. This is a gem of a short film from start to finish.