Father and Son (Short)

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Father and SonStarring Jaden Eller, John C. Forman, Gabrielle Phillips

Directed by Ben Deka, Julien Deka


There comes a point when you don’t really feel the need for a 90+-minute feature in order to entertain. If the premise is strong and the characters appear to be in some semblance of order, grouped with a flashy series of visuals, then a short presentation is just what the witch doctor has prescribed to provide a brief respite from overtaxed eyeballs.

From the Deka brothers (Ben and Julien) comes Father & Son, a quickie tale about, you guessed it!, a father and son exorcism team that appear to have their differences, according to the first scene of the film. William (John C. Forman) is all about doing the Lord’s work and helping to cleanse the evil that resides in poor souls, while his son, Jake (Jaden Eller), has clearly become less than enthused with the idea of charging people insane fees to come into their homes and exorcise the demons. As the two mend their fences (or so you’d think), they head off to save a young girl whose mother believes is possessed, and as their actions yet again prove to be fruitful (and monetarily rewarding), afterwards Jake decides that he is finished with this business and opts to go his own way.

As you would imagine, William is none too pleased with Jake’s choice, and we’ve got ourselves a tiny family feud on our hands… only problem, this is anything but tiny. From here I’m going to leave you all stranded at the onramp, simply because this short is only 39 minutes long, and it would be a measure less than torture to spit out the entire set of details. What I can say is that the remainder of the film doesn’t really come as a surprise, and for lack of a better word, I was left slightly underwhelmed with the conclusion, which is disappointing because from the get-go, I truly had high hopes for this short. Forman’s performance of the elder William looks a little hammy, especially with the way his lines were delivered, and Eller’s portrayal of Jake was simply baseline – no real ups or downs to speak of.

Visually speaking, I was impressed with how the Deka brothers shot the film with the night scenes framing each character perfectly and giving the look of pure evil just within their reach. If the chance comes along and you have the opportunity to give this a look, by all means do so; but just like any family dinner, don’t stick around for dessert because there’s bound to be a brawl before it happens.

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