Kids These Days – The Replacement Child (Justin Lerner, 2007): USA

The Replacement Child is the third short film that plays with Kids These Days. While the other two short films are very well made and entertaining, neither are quite up to the same level that The Replacement Child is on. This short film is about a boy named Todd (Travis Quentin Young) who has just returned home from a year spent in juvenile hall. What he returns home to is not what he had originally left. Everyone in his life has since moved on and found a replacement to stand in Todd’s place, not everything is perfect though. Todd’s good friend is deathly ill, stuck in bed at home because his parents do not believe in conventional medicine. Without Todd’s help he will soon die in his bed.

The Good:
The Replacement Child stood out to me as one of the more compelling shorts, more so than all the other shorts I saw because of how spectacular the lighting had been done. The lighting and color for this short is some of the best work I’ve seen in awhile, comparable to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Dealing with the subject of violence , the story and message delivered in the twenty minute span are extremely powerful and effective. All the actors do an excellent job portraying their character in the time they are given on screen.

The Bad:
The only aspect of this short film I did not like so much is that it had to be a short. I’m really hoping that this has enough backing to be turned into a feature film with the same cast & crew some day. All the acting is good, the characters are all interesting, but they are so interesting that it’s sad to see that we don’t quite know the full story behind everything going on when Todd returns from the juvenile camp. The story could potentially be infinitely more compelling with more than one character fully explained.

Overall:
The Replacement Child was the most worth while 20 minutes I spent at the film festival. I would love to see a feature film adaptation soon. Everything from the sound development to the mise-en-scene is amazing. I strongly suggest you all find a way to see this. 10/10

-Keith


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