Veteran actor Harris Shore has been in the film and television game for a while now but has only just stepped his foot into the directing game with his new short THE TRUST.

The pandemic did a lot to change the world as we know it (whether some people decide to acknowledge that or not). It certainly changed how many of us communicate remotely now, via Zoom or other video conferencing software.

THE TRUST is done mostly in the vein of a Zoom call between a family and their lawyer who is reading the will of the patron of their family who has recently passed away after a bout of Covid-19.

A lot of the comedy is very “on the nose” in this short, but that might have been to accentuate the ridiculousness of the characters, most of whom are rich yuppie white folk who can’t seem to fathom a day of hardship.

There is a clever twist to this movie which I won’t reveal here, but needless to say the title of THE TRUST is apt on more than one level.

Using Zoom as the main delivery mechanism for most of your dialogue is something a lot of directors are experimenting with, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Generally, it’s a matter of how dynamic the characters are as well as the scenes book-ending the Zoom calls. This film could have done a little bit more playing with the characters outside of the Zoom narrative to not make it feel so contained within that piece of software.

For a first-time filmmaker THE TRUST is a competent enough movie. It doesn’t suffer too much from bloating in the script and the shots and sound are done well. The music, incidental or otherwise, is handled professionally and the characters are fun.

A special shout-out to Tangie Ambrose for her acting in this piece, which steals the show despite the talent surrounding her through the film. Her character’s dialogue and reactions are great and overall, she was just a joy to watch.