Short Film Review – “Apartment 206”

This was originally going to be part of a larger
event that Timeshredder will tell you all about
tomorrow.

Cast, Crew, and Other Info

Nicola Hersh as Sandra

Troy Bishop as Conrad

Written and directed by Gregory Zymet

The IMDB doesn’t seem to have a listing for it, but
it does have its
own official
website
.


Past movie reviews can be found here.

Premise

Two people who are involved in the same car accident
find themselves
trapped in a single, nearly empty apartment.

High Point

Taking out the trash was amusing.

Low Point

Troy Bishop had some very unconvincing moments near
the start of the
film. The first big realization was an important
moment, and he
didn’t pull it off very well.

The Scores

This has some original ideas and moments.
The actual
connection to the past is rather interesting, as are
the contents of
the apartment. The rough path the characters walk
isn’t new, but that
doesn’t make it uninteresting. I give it 4 out of 6.

The effects are extremely minimal. We’ve
got some funkiness
on a TV screen or two, a coffee can going out the
window, and some
other moments that can be easily accomplished through
creative
editing. The story doesn’t demand any more than
this, and what we are
given does work. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story has far more to do with characters
than events.
These people are trapped together for a considerable
amount of time,
and their relationship develops plausibly and
interestingly over this
period. All of the major clues are there. The only
story moment I’m
not sure about is why a piece of paper had been in a
corner for so
long. (I’d have expected someone to pick it up and
throw it out in
the meantime.) Stil, it holds together fairly well,
and that paper
was more of an embellishment than a crucial piece of
a puzzle. I give
it 5 out of 6.

The acting was the responsibility of Nicola
Hersh and Troy
Bishop. Nicola did a pretty good job, but Troy’s
work was uneven.
Some of his early scenes don’t seem to work at all,
but the
exploration scene and what follows do. I give it 4
out of 6.

The emotional response this produces is
fair. There is a
fair amount of interest in what happens with Sandra
from the outset.
Conrad’s path doesn’t become interesting right away,
primarily because
Troy Bishop isn’t all that engaging in his
introductory scene. Both
are involving by the end of the film, and it’s nice
to see the paths
they take. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production is pretty good. There’s not
a lot of camera
motion, but the filming location didn’t really allow
that. The only
part that they should have really been able to
improve upon in those
conditions is in the first meeting of Conrad and
Sandra. Sandra
speaks from off screen in a long take, leaving me to
wonder why they
didn’t cut to her and back. The lighting and the
rest of the editing
worked very well, and the score (composed by
writer/director Gregory
Zymet) is very appropriate. I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, this is an entertaining short film
that would feel
right at home as an episode of The Twilight
Zone
or The
Outer Limits
. Fans of those series should check
this out if
given the opportunity. Had Troy Bishop’s acting been
consistently at
the level we saw during his exploration, it would
have been worth a
five. Instead, I give it 4 out of 6.

In total, Apartment 206 receives 30 out of
42.