The short employs an engagement with a seemingly inane activity to perhaps attempt to explain how the quarantine is making everyone feel. While both the viewer and the film's protagonist stay confined in the lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic, how does one not only find a purpose to their day, but as well as a way to figure out their daily chores? Left clueless in these unusual times, the film aims to represent the struggle, confusion and doubts surrounding one such situation.

Coffee | Lockdown Film Challenge

It is Sunny’s first day at a new job of delivering parcels. The film constantly breaks the fourth wall to give us a better idea of the many anxieties that afflict Sunny on this important day. Little does our unsuspecting protagonist know, however, that the day has more than simply work stressors in store for him. 

When Sunny reaches the location for his first parcel, one he has been asked to deliver under the most mysterious circumstances, he makes his way inside. And henceforth, there is no turning back as he is now incarcerated within a house from where there is no exit. 

Time continues to march forth, building tension for the man before us, portrayed lucidly for the viewer with the aid of fitting visuals, and the struggle continues. Though the film seems to run the danger of becoming a bit loose, by its conclusion, it manages to regain control on storytelling, presenting to you a narrative with a well-defined beginning, middle and end.

House No. 18 | Short Film Nominee

With its use of short, crisp shots, coupled with an eerie background score, the film does a notable attempt of invoking an atmosphere of thrill and horror. It moves back and forth in time to juxtaposes two parallel narratives of a young couple. The plot soon develops to reveal how a man finds his present reality reflected in a past couple's life that lived in the same house where he happens to be for a few hours. The film shows potential in terms of its structuring and performances and comes across as a strong attempt at horror. While music has an important role to play in escalating tension, it is also the execution of the storyline that allows it to be a complimentary aspect of the film, rather than spiral away into melodrama.

Ayush Bose

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