Omeleto | A STORYBOOK ENDING | Omeleto @Omeleto | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
Two criminals blackmail a man.
A STORYBOOK ENDING is used with permission from Lanre Olabisi. Learn more at https://linktr.ee/lanrito.
In a well-appointed apartment, Wale and his wife confront two criminals tied up in their home and what looks like a dead body on their floor. Earlier that night, Wale accidentally killed an undercover cop who mistook Wale for a criminal he was chasing.
The incident was captured on video by a bystander, Virginia, watching nearby. And now Wale and his wife Claudia are being blackmailed by Virginia and her partner Gonzo, who want money in return for their silence. As their pairs standoff, it sets off an unpredictable chain of deceit, mayhem and murder that engulfs everyone.
Directed and written by Lanre Olabisi, this darkly funny, ambitious rollercoaster of a short is an adrenaline-fuelled riff on the action-thriller crime genre, one whose distinctive stylization and black humor offers a thought-provoking examination of violence and trauma. The storytelling takes Quentin Tarantino as inspiration in both its stylistic verve and playful approach to structure, offering moments of shock and comedy that keep viewers both engaged and off-kilter.
The film begins at a high point of the action, and judging from the blood everywhere and fear from the other occupants of the room, there's already been considerable fighting. Rendered with stately camerawork and operatic score, there's a heightened sense of absurdity -- a willingness to push the boundaries that immediately telegraphs an edge of satire and irony.
Much of the narrative structure unravels the ins and outs of how the stand-off arrived at that point, filling in the background of a Black man killing a White cop, which was captured on video and is now being used as a means of blackmail. But most of the immediate conflict unfolds between the couple and the blackmailers as they hash out the terms of the blackmail and reveal what's at stake. What emerges are a set of thornier questions and tensions that exist between this very loose microcosm of community: the chasm between the more bourgeois, "successful" families and the ones with less financial security or resources, and different ideas of right, wrong and justice.
The excellent writing weaves surprising insight with dark humor, particularly in how each pair bicker with each other, opening up long-simmering marital spats and other festering annoyances that create a powderkeg of absurdity. The ensemble cast -- led by actors Rotimi Paul as Wale, Carra Patterson as Claudia and Toni Ann De Noble as his motormouthed adversary Virginia -- all deftly handle the swerves between violence, dark comedy and serious drama by never losing their emotional grounding, exemplified especially when the entire room devolves into mayhem.
The penultimate scene of A STORYBOOK ENDING is memorably outlandish and cartoon-like in its manic energy. Shots are fired, hair is pulled and men wrestle, all scored with an ironic burst of Roy Orbison. But in the end, with everyone worse for wear -- or dead -- the storytelling drops its stinging edge of satire as it limps into the final confrontation. It dramatizes a larger question about violence, both for the individual characters and perhaps a society at large. Do we retaliate? Compound trauma with even more damage, or let lives move forward? Their choice is a warily poignant one, especially for people already beset by the specter of prejudice, danger and entrenched injustice from outside forces.
Two criminals blackmail a man.
A STORYBOOK ENDING is used with permission from Lanre Olabisi. Learn more at https://linktr.ee/lanrito.
In a well-appointed apartment, Wale and his wife confront two criminals tied up in their home and what looks like a dead body on their floor. Earlier that night, Wale accidentally killed an undercover cop who mistook Wale for a criminal he was chasing.
The incident was captured on video by a bystander, Virginia, watching nearby. And now Wale and his wife Claudia are being blackmailed by Virginia and her partner Gonzo, who want money in return for their silence. As their pairs standoff, it sets off an unpredictable chain of deceit, mayhem and murder that engulfs everyone.
Directed and written by Lanre Olabisi, this darkly funny, ambitious rollercoaster of a short is an adrenaline-fuelled riff on the action-thriller crime genre, one whose distinctive stylization and black humor offers a thought-provoking examination of violence and trauma. The storytelling takes Quentin Tarantino as inspiration in both its stylistic verve and playful approach to structure, offering moments of shock and comedy that keep viewers both engaged and off-kilter.
The film begins at a high point of the action, and judging from the blood everywhere and fear from the other occupants of the room, there's already been considerable fighting. Rendered with stately camerawork and operatic score, there's a heightened sense of absurdity -- a willingness to push the boundaries that immediately telegraphs an edge of satire and irony.
Much of the narrative structure unravels the ins and outs of how the stand-off arrived at that point, filling in the background of a Black man killing a White cop, which was captured on video and is now being used as a means of blackmail. But most of the immediate conflict unfolds between the couple and the blackmailers as they hash out the terms of the blackmail and reveal what's at stake. What emerges are a set of thornier questions and tensions that exist between this very loose microcosm of community: the chasm between the more bourgeois, "successful" families and the ones with less financial security or resources, and different ideas of right, wrong and justice.
The excellent writing weaves surprising insight with dark humor, particularly in how each pair bicker with each other, opening up long-simmering marital spats and other festering annoyances that create a powderkeg of absurdity. The ensemble cast -- led by actors Rotimi Paul as Wale, Carra Patterson as Claudia and Toni Ann De Noble as his motormouthed adversary Virginia -- all deftly handle the swerves between violence, dark comedy and serious drama by never losing their emotional grounding, exemplified especially when the entire room devolves into mayhem.
The penultimate scene of A STORYBOOK ENDING is memorably outlandish and cartoon-like in its manic energy. Shots are fired, hair is pulled and men wrestle, all scored with an ironic burst of Roy Orbison. But in the end, with everyone worse for wear -- or dead -- the storytelling drops its stinging edge of satire as it limps into the final confrontation. It dramatizes a larger question about violence, both for the individual characters and perhaps a society at large. Do we retaliate? Compound trauma with even more damage, or let lives move forward? Their choice is a warily poignant one, especially for people already beset by the specter of prejudice, danger and entrenched injustice from outside forces.
