Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Her Friend Adam" is a Canadian English-language live action short film from 2016, so still relatively new and the awards recognition it received (at Sundance for example) may make it the career-defining work by writer and director Ben Petrie who also plays the male lead in this little movie that runs for slightly under 20 minutes. I think the one thing it does relatively well is show us how exaggerated jealousy can destroy, or at least have a major negative impact on, romantic relationships. From that perspective, it is well-written. But only at times as sadly there are at least as many moments when the film goes negatively over the top and misses thr ight mark and eventually, it is frequent enough for me to call it a negative deal breaker. I don't think it was a problem that the film is fairly obscene as it fits the characters and honestly we find out pretty quickly with a drawing that will make Disney fans shake their heads to be honest. But it's fine as it fits the movie in terms of tone and atmosphere, even if occasionally I would have hoped for a bit more subtlety. As for the final plot twist involving a third character, actually the one they are constantly talking about (yep it's not Waiting for Godot/Adam), I must say I really did not like it at all, but that's just subjective taste I guess. I also feel that the references about Adam's homosexuality earlier could have been left out as it made the entire jealousy plot a bit more unrealistic, not impossibly, but unrealistic. So sadly, while there is some ambition here and solid execution, I cannot agree with the awards recognition and imdb rating overall. I give it a thumbs-down, but would finally like to end this review on a high note and say that the female lead actress was pretty good and maybe the best thing about the film, so it's fine I guess she got some awards recognition at least.
