Nov 20, 20162 min read

Love The Original Way short film

Directed by Hassan L. Moore Starring Keldamuzik, Nick Dagger, & Colin Asher Short Film Review by Sarah Smeaton

Love The Original Way focuses on a female who we first meet while she’s attending an Alcoholics Anonymous session, then quickly moving to following her dating life, and all the mishaps along the way. Whilst there’s some real potential for comedy gold here, there’s never a real rapport built between this main character, Sissy, and the viewer. Thus at no point can any real empathy be felt for the character, and as a result any comedy or emotional connection is lost.

There is most certainly a nice underlying message that emanates from the film that indicates that actually, yes it might be easier to find quick dates through Internet searches and online dating, but in actual fact you’re much more likely to find something more meaningful if you meet in a more organic, ‘original’ way. Having said that, the relationship that does form from this ‘original way’ actually begins in the AA meeting we see at the start of the short film, which arguably is perhaps not the best foundation for a new relationship!

Witten by Keldamuzik, who also plays lead in the film, the plot did feel like it lacked focus at times, with no real end goal in sight, apart from a quick, rather clichéd ending put in place, which takes up all of the last minute. The opening scene for example does not immediately appear to have any real relevance to the rest of the plot, apart from it being a natural, organic way for Sissy to meet Aaron - the one guy she’s met of late who she actually appears to like. The leader of the AA group having a relatively large speech about how ‘delicious’ alcohol is, while mildly comical, didn’t appear to have any substance or natural link to the rest of the plot. The disjointed nature of the storyline was also supported by disjointed transitions between scenes, making it hard for the Love The Original Way to flow as a whole. Perhaps director Hassan L. Moore was aiming to create a real abstract piece of work here, but for this film reviewer, the rambling nature resulted in a plot that was more hard to follow and incoherent than intriguing.

The actors Keldamuzik (Sissy), Nick Dagger (Aaron) and Colin Asher (Tyler) did most certainly show great potential as performers, however, I would like to see them in something a little more complex that stretched them in their field in order to showcase what they could achieve. In essence, this short film is trying to be a classic love story, but unfortunately lost its meaning somewhere along the way.