Hard Feelings

Inside a diner, two people discuss a devastating event that took place in the past.

It is night-time and young man named Daniel (Baez) walks inside a diner, which is empty apart from one waitress (Guilbaut). After he sits at a table and orders some food, a man named Eddie (Nuzzi) arrives and takes a seat at another table. Daniel knows that Eddie is a former police officer, who fatally shot Daniel's teenage brother while on duty. Posing as a journalist, Daniel strikes up a conversation with Eddie and requests an interview regarding that fateful event. What are Daniel's real intentions?

This short tense drama has an intriguing plot that is the aftermath of a tragedy and it deals with very serious issues that include police brutality, gun crime, injustice and mourning. By focusing almost entirely on the conversation between Daniel and Eddie, the story explores how it has affected the perpetrator and the victim's relative. It is apparent that by quizzing the ex-cop, Daniel wants to know about the circumstances that led to the shooting and how Eddie feels about what he has done. The conversation turns into a sort of cat-and-mouse situation and as Eddie tries to justify his actions and explain that the event has deeply affected his life, the suspense and tension rise more and more and give the impression that something terrible is about to happen.

Both Baez and Nuzzi deliver very strong performances by playing characters whose lives cross paths due to a death. Daniel is suffering by the loss of his brother and seems to be searching for answers and closure. Eddie is trying to move on with his life, yet is aware that the incident has changed his life forever.

Director of photography William Wilusz does a great job with the cinematography and composer Kevin Lynch makes a terrific contribution with the dramatic and tense music.

This film is quite a dramatic story and it could be placed in the murder-revenge genre, although it is much more than that due to the heavy themes that it explores and the well-constructed screenplay that contains great dialogue and creates quite a remarkable atmosphere. Thanks to all this and the amazing acting, this is a thoughtful and memorable viewing.