RUNON IS A SUPERB SHORT
Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide
This suspenseful, gritty 12-minute film, Runon, stars a frightened young boy faced with adversity as he and his nervous mother wait for a midnight bus to leave a bad neighborhood. Runon chronicles his experience with violence and urban poverty set within the bus station. In it, homeless people litter the floors, and the atmosphere is grim. When his mother heads to the counter to buy the tickets, the boy steals a gun from her purse and flushes it down the toilet. As the mother talks about life, her son is absorbing life events by interacting with other characters.
Luke meets his father in the station, and despite his initial kindness, the dad’s anger erupts as he demands to know the mother’s whereabouts. He storms off with the mother’s handbag and leaves Luke alone. The film ends with Luke running away from all the chaos and runs into the urban hysteria outlined by the neon lights. The cinematography (by Adam Newport-Berra) and the script create a beautiful story. Director Daniel Newell Kaufman’s exterior and interior lighting build a unique contrast within the dimly lit terminal interior and dark, sketchy nighttime exterior. Run On was part of the 2020 SXSW virtual shorts category. PROVOKR loves this life lesson short and hopes you give it a look!
