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Details, 2000, 30 minutes, Not Rated
By Carla Robinson
A great short film is an elusive animal. Film festivals are virtually awash with
shorts consisting of slick cinematography, arresting shot arrangements, but minimal story
lines and less than impressive acting. Writer/actor Gloria Herrera’s
“Details” works because it presents us with a glimpse of an ordinary life at an
extraordinary point in time. It engages us at the pivotal moment for its main character,
Angela, a woman on a mission to straighten out her life before she kills herself.
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© 2000 Ex-Bo Productions
Gloria Herrera as Angela in Details |
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Angela has suffered from endometriosis
since childhood. The disease has resulted in excruciating bursts of pain, agonizing sexual
intercourse, and the inability to have “a litter of kids,” as Angela cites to
her ex-husband as the reason that he left her. By the time we enter her story, she’s
had enough of the suffering, the medications, and the emptiness. As she makes plans to end
it all, we learn volumes about her passions and disdains. We also laugh, more than a
little, when she interacts with her crazy best friend and her young, sexy, but broke
boyfriend.
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Because “Details” offers an unsentimental
point-of-view, it’s affecting rather than gloomy and leads us to question womanhood
as a construct. “This is a character who always looked to a child to fulfill her
life, to keep her husband, to be able to fulfill her mother’s dreams, but they may
not have necessarily have been her own dreams,” said Herrera. “When she does go
to the suicide, it’s hers. She actually has fulfillment with herself.”
M
January 2001
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