Ralph, Short Film Review

This short film begins with a young boy of late teenage years coming off a train accompanied by his big black suitcase in Paris. Dressed very casually in trainers, baggy tracksuit bottoms and a red Burberry polo shirt with his collar buttoned up and a thick silver chain wrapped around the neck of his shirt displays the air of somebody confident and streetwise. Yet, when the camera focuses on him from a distance as he stands alone on the platform with his suitcase in close reach, he looks almost lost and vulnerable. It is clear by just standing and waiting he was expecting to be met by somebody which we later find out to be a girl by the name of Claire.

Pulling at his suitcase he finds a phone booth and calls Claire to confirm his arrival but to his dismay the number he was given by Claire is incorrect, when the camera does a close shot of his face at that moment, we see a confused boy who becomes desperate to find a solution to an unexpected situation. He plays  with the numbers on his piece of paper hoping that one of these numbers will connect him to Claire but all his attempts connect him to French speaking strangers... when his phone card eventually runs out of credit he leaves the Metro to buy another phone card to continue calling all the tens of numbers he has desperately created from the incorrect telephone number he was given.

As he enters the graffiti washed streets of Paris and into the natural sunny day light away from the depressive underground lighting, the Director allows the audience to feel a glimmer of hope with the effective change of light which also becomes evident on the boys sudden confidence boost as we witness him have very little difficulty communicating with the people of Paris.

Having had to buy a plate of chips in order for the devious Cafe manager to sell him a phone card, we are also introduced to the temperamental waitress whom takes an instant dislike to the cockney speaking southern English boy as his suitcase becomes an obstacle for her to work around.

Once again as he hopelessly attempts to call Claire but fails to reach her, anger takes the better of him, frustrated and lost for ideas he resorts to punching and kicking the phone booth of the outdoor Cafe, noticing his frustration the temperamental waitress is instantly drawn to him, in him she feels the build up of her own unhappiness and frustration and decides to show him a kinder side of herself. As the camera zooms in we see an instant connection between boy and waitress, the call he so desperately tried to make had finally reached its receiver, the waitress. A boy in his late teenage years, vulnerable and alien to his surroundings desperately seeking refuge in Claire’s life suddenly finds himself captured by a waitress that has just lost her job for conversing with him whilst on duty by the mean manager. The big black suitcase that had been pulled and pushed around all day which can also be interpreted as a sign of new beginnings had finally reached its purpose.