Short films in Focus: The Vacation | Short films to the point

“The Vacation” begins with a hairdresser named Aaron (Drew Morris) seated in his car, who will not start. Today, these are his vacation. All he wants to do is take a road to the beach, spend time with his friends and forget about his problems. Just one day. His car will not let him make this apparently small request from the universe. One by one, he is joined by his friends. Devin (Carrillo) wears a suit and must go to a job interview for an internship. Their friend Freddie (Ohene Cornelius) jumps on the back seat, rolls a joint and proceeds to the car with smoke in pots. Finally, their friend Trae (Trae Harris) enters and offers the only piece of optimism for the four of them. “I see myself in the future,” she said, and gets lost in a brief reverie of a better life. The other three try it, with mixed results.

Carrillo’s film is the perfect ten -minute piece for this time of year, when many feel the economic pinch, and a simple beach trip seems to be the answer to all its misfortunes, while interviewing for an unpaid internship seems to be a logic backwards. The characters here talk a lot about the race, the class and the idea of living for free without ever becoming too preacher or heavy on this subject. It is a very friendly group that Jarreau assembled here, full of spirit and benefits of good humor of each other. They remind viewers their own friends and the days that could have been wonderful, but who were never supposed to be.

Carrillo straw also in other characters to browse the frame, mainly customers wondering if they can get a haircut. Aaron, after welcoming them with a “yo!” Laborious and more and more frustrated, must say to them: “No, I’m on vacation”, even if it is not going. This is the theme in a word: these characters do not move around the world, and they do not go down either. One day of leave of this lateral existence resembles a luxury article, a slight step compared to the used sofa cushion that a guy tries to sell Aaron, an absurd moment that would adapt to the house on “Atlanta”.

“The Vacation” is the kind of short film that accomplishes a lot without ever looking at trying too hard. It is a difficult balance to solve, but Carrillo manages to keep the light of air while speaking of certain deep subjects, those that the characters would say just as well “to be pursued” rather than solving the weight of problems in a single afternoon. Why kill a good atmosphere, even when the fucking car will not start?

“The Vacation” won the Grand Jury 2023 prize for the production (United States) at the Film Film Film 2023, the best narrative short film at the 2023 film Film Festival, and the best short film at 2023 Aspen Shortesfest.