Wednesday 2 April 2014

Change of Address (Short Film).


This is the second film I have watched by amateur filmmaker and writer Fred Erpelding and I am just as impressed with his short film Change of Address (2014) as I was with his previous Charlotte. Again the whole production looks very professional. The director/writer appears to have a knack of wasting no shooting time in his self-explanatory narrative with out the need for unnecessary dialog. Again Tim Hecker provides the unobtrusive score.

The film opens and we hear Philippe telling his fiancĂ© that he is going out with his friends for the evening and hopes that Val has a good evening herself. It transpires that Val is getting a visit from her best friend. When she arrives she does not express surprise that Val is on her own. The discussion over a glass of wine revolves around Val’s impending marriage to the afore mentioned Philippe and she explains to her friend how they only met a year ago but how much he makes her laugh and feel alive.  The younger woman makes her disapproval quite clear and try’s to talk her friend out of it, even by bring up the fact that Val is not getting any younger! But Val points out that she loves the man and that her children approve, although her intended has not told his own children that he intends to move in with her. The scene changes to a bar were we witness Philippe sitting on his own over a single glass of beer. He leaves the bar and travels back by train but does not return to Val’s instead he sleeps in his car. This viewer got the distinct impression that Philippe is not sure about his reasons for the intended union with Val? 

Val and her best friend share a glass of wine. 
Although not being a film maker my self I can appreciate how difficult it must be to make a short film, this one is only just over seven minutes long, and manage to get across every thing it wants to say and I must say Change of Address works very successfully. From the evidence of his first two films this recreational auteur is certainly beginning to develop his own style.  Check out the link below:


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