Snow Bunny (short)
This is a really unhappy family. Abigail (Marci Ackerhalt-Price) and Dean (Jeremy Price) got married young, and had two beautiful daughters- Mandy and Delilah. But now, they’re detached from one another- the girls are at that age where they need their parent’s attention, and whereas Abigail wants things to go back to normal, Dean is growing further apart.
As written and directed by Jessica King and Julie Keck, “Snow Bunny” is a day in the life of these characters, with three scenes illuminating their problems, and some of the issues holding them back from happiness.
Dean is unhappy. Harboring resentments for his life, we find out he has lied to his wife, we see him leave Mandy and drive off when she gets annoying, and- in the climactic moments- we see him play a dangerous game with his wife in the cold.
Abigail is trying to hold on. She loves Dean, but you can tell she’s overcompensating for a lack of love. They host a dinner party, but after everyone’s gone, her and Dean can’t help but get into an argument about little things that elevate into big ones. Same goes for when we see them preparing for the party. The introduction of alcohol into the equation doesn’t help things either.
Mandy and Delilah are your average kids at that age (let’s say 10 or so). They don’t let on that they sense something is wrong with their parents, but at the same time that doesn’t stop them from being kids themselves.
I realize reading back that I’ve basically given away the entire story here, but there’s not really any other way to approach it. The story is the most interesting aspect of the film. The film is shot hand-held, with certain camera angles in particular that just didn’t really work for me. The performances lack a genuine touch- there’s a lot of forced emotion that comes out, and the characters don’t really come off as that natural, although they certainly feel like people we might know. The piano score by Jeffrey Bouthiette captures the family’s fractured state effectively, but sadly, it’s the closest the film got for me to conveying genuine emotion.
Still, the story is worth telling, and the way it was told structurally was interesting and more effective than it otherwise should be.
