The Southern Belle
The ten-minute short drama THE SOUTHERN BELLE is a remarkably well put-together piece of gripping storytelling. The film is a great example of what can be done with a minimal cast, locations, a gripping premise, and solid writing. The writer, Martin Cox, takes a very simple narrative of a chance meeting between two people at night. It’s as simple as the opening of a Tale of Two Cities. Both of the main characters come from different worlds, and each has their own set of problems to contend with. One is an uptown businessman (Ethan Sharrett) with a recently discovered secret that threatens to end his perfect world of privilege, and a man who drives the cab (Theodore Bouloukos) whose relatively humble world was recently turned upside-down as well. There is a bit about the difference in their ages and socioeconomic upbringings that seems a little heavy-handed, but it’s understandably used to sell the characters and give them more dimension in a short span of time.
The concept that there are three women in the cab driver’s life that have never let him down is a brilliant device integrated very well into the storyline. His hard working, recently deceased mother, his selfish wife, and the train, the titular Southern Belle, that you could set a watch by are all used to form a vivid picture of this man’s life without having to expand on the length of the film. This is a movie that could easily have gone twice the length (and most likely budget) in the hands of a less capable director. The businessman’s character is well-acted, but fairly forgettable in the day and age of 1% vs 99% arguments. Nobody cares about the woes of the wealthy.
The film is shot, lit, and acted well with a moving accompanying score. The only thing that I think the director, Patrick Biesemans, made a mistake on was keeping the cab driver’s character in profile most of the movie. If the audience were able to connect with this man’s story through the emotion in his eyes this short would have gone from moving to riveting. The director’s sense of pacing is spot on though, and the last few moments of the movie really holds the audience’s attention despite the lack of real emotional connection.
