Short Film Review: "Furthest From" Is A Touching Portrait Of Loss & Loneliness
Writer Rex Reyes and director Kyung Sok Kim craft a heartbreaking and honest coming-of-age story that’s personal to the touch with Furthest From. A bittersweet portrait of loss and loneliness with a soft, positive-leaning conclusion, the short will seize you with its emotional sincerity and gorgeous cinematography.
When a water contamination issue forces a trailer park to be closed, 8-year-old Jessie must come to terms with leaving everything and everyone she has ever known behind.
Somewhat of a hybrid of The Florida Project and Beasts of the Southern Wild, with a light, looming brush of natural crisis a la Dark Waters, Furthest From crafts a coming-of-age (or loss-of-innocence) tale that’s familiar, yet reinvigorated. Told exclusively through the eyes of its central figure, Jessie (played by the young Amanda Christine, who dials in a strong performance), an eight-year-old girl facing changes that radiate well beyond her control, and set in the late 90s, just before Y2K (which brought scares all its own), in a Novato, California trailer park, Jessie tries her best to enjoy what little time she has left with her friends, fellow residents of her mobile housing area. However, the sands of time have their limits, and for Jessie, the hourglass is nearly drained of its remaining sand.
In the case of Furthest From, an MTBE (Methyl tert-butyl ether) water contamination has infiltrated the small campsite community where Jessie lives, which has sped up the time she’ll have to share with her trailer park buddies. As the contamination grows increasingly unsafe, it forces residents to evacuate their home in search of the next one. For Jessie, this means confronting a most unwelcome change and learning to say goodbye to the people that tether her to a specific time and place. And over the course of this touching, heart-rending, yet optimistic short, we see her and her friends’ youthful spirit melt into a somber realization of adulthood.
Given the subject matter of the piece, it would be easy for screenwriter Rex Reyes and director Kyung Sok Kim to give into the gloom that shrouds Furtherst From’s essence; however, they rightly dig to find the silver lining to the narrative, which gives the film an uplifting, inspirational note to end on. Jessie may be losing her close friends, but it’s her family, namely her sister (played by Jasmin Jean-Louis), who spends most of her time keeping an eye on Jessie while she plays about the park, who remain. In a key moment to the film’s climax, Jessie and her sister are brought together in a warm embrace, which offers up a strong hopeful message that cuts through the stark reality. At its core, the film reminds us that while certain figures in our lives are merely momentary, there are others that remain on a more permanent basis, standing as a pillar of support, there for us in our time(s) of need.
Although the film wobbles from time to time, it remains unwaveringly true to the emotional center of its story. Most important of all, it doesn’t sugarcoat its narrative, nor try to shoehorn a “happy ending.” It remains entirely anchored in reality and doesn’t shy away from the harsh or bittersweet aspects of growing up. The whole project is brought into vivid realization through its production design (by Mboni Maumba), art direction (by Nathanael Chastain), set decoration (by Wynne Reneau), and costume design (Caroline Allander), which all operate within a lush, pastel color palette and find interesting ways to complement one another on screen. The lynch pin holding the visuals together is cinematographer Teck Siang Lim (who also conducted the cinematography on Big Touch), and he finds ways to draw the colors out to really make the images pop, creating a bright, candy-coated contrast to the story’s darker leanings.
The strongest piece of criticism we have is that the water contamination issue resides a little too much in the narrative periphery. If it weren’t for the synopsis text, it would be difficult to really ascertain what the issue plaguing the trailer park was. There’s also not much dialogue about what MTBE is, so when you see Jessie drinking water from a squirt gun, it’s unclear if the contamination is hazardous to her health (based off our research, it would not be). Other than that, Furthest From proves to be an excellent coming-of-age drama about growing up and facing the unwanted changes attached to that.
Recommendation: If you enjoy films like The Florida Project or Beasts of the Southern Wild, you’ll find a lot to admire in Furthest From. Definitely give it a watch!
Rating: 4 sleepless nights outta 5.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!