Little Miseries (2021)
Film Review
by Asaf Angel
“A woman pulls her husband through the end of the world.” [IMDb]
Australian indie filmmaker Dia Taylor is responsible for the 2021 short horror gem titled Little Miseries. The production was a joint effort by Taylor‘s production company Taymaynari Pictures, along with Ballistic Ink Productions and Lone Viking.
Preceded by Taylor’s 2017 proof-of-concept horror micro-short, Hungry, Cole? (View HERE), Little Miseries focuses on the story of Ashlyn Walker (Brooke Moss), a young, strong-willed woman, who powers through ominous woodland of a post-apocalyptic world, hauling her zombified husband, Cole (Kristian Hilton) by a leash to an unknown destination.
The writing by Dia Taylor and Jack Brindelli is sound. The characters felt to have been written with much respect to the gravity of the reality imposed by the grim, vicious world of the story.
Ashlyn’s character was thoroughly fleshed out and complemented with an impressive intense performance by Moss. The later revealed circumstances leading to her unbearable reality properly explain the profound display of a tormented woman, adamant on keeping her undead loved one around, despite the irrationality of her conviction and the constant danger to her own life.
Another performance which stood out came from Loraine Fabb, who played the supporting role of Cassie, a mother looking for her missing son, James (Oliver Midson). Among many other cast members and extras, additional supporting actors who enriched the plot include Vincent Kos, Joshua Heaft, John Democles Smith and the voice of Callum G. Gault.
Although I feel like revealing all the wonderful storytelling elements which can each become a topic of conversation with regard to character arcs, I cannot really delve much into detail for fear of spoiling.
Technically speaking, Little Miseries is an impressive achievement for its 19-minute runtime. The cinematography by Ben Luck and Mark Kenfield felt professional and crisp. A fairly brave offering of wide shots helped to deliver a sense of magnitude with regard to the vastness of this post-apocalyptic world. Hand-held shots contributed to the notion of looming peril. This means meticulous planning in frame selection and construction, which for an indie project, is no mean feat.
In a shoestring-budgeted indie production, aspects of filming outdoors and properly recording, editing and mixing sound are extremely challenging. Mind that sunlight is constantly changing throughout the day and ambient sound tone in an outdoorsy location makes recording, editing and mixing dialogue, all the more challenging. Colour grading by Tim Pek and Mark Kenfield felt seamless throughout. Sound recording by Lyndon Johnson, sound editing by Sebastian Mittelman and sound mixing by Daniel Bucknell were professionally handled. The editing by Sebastian Bertoli was skillful and efficient.
The music score by Alex .J. Cseh subtly complemented the world of the film, as it refrained from diverting too much attention to itself, as any score should.
No film is without fault, and Little Miseries is no different, yet in comparison to its strengths, most “problematic” issues are negligible and none are worth mentioning, as the positive far exceeds the negative. In my opinion, after having viewed most of Dia’s work, Little Miseries testifies to her impressive progression as a filmmaker and can be considered as another substantial leap forward in her work.
Taylor’s commitment to her craft is one of inspiring patience and relentless determination. I have it on good authority that she and her team, take on complex productions in increments, depending on capital they manage to periodically raise, thus slowly but surely achieving their goals.
A fine film and impressive display of Taylor and her team’s accelerated progress. 8/10.
