Weathering

I'm not sure what I expected to happen in those 20 minutes, but it certainly wasn't that. This short "film" felt like an attempted scary story that really only ended up being social issue mumbo-jumbo. Horror fans beware. This isn't a short horror film it's a societal issue pretending to be one. Our main character, Gemina, is pregnant and something is very wrong but her doctors won't listen to her pleading. She loses the baby. Upon returning home she experiences what looks to be paranormal attacks. Her front door is suddenly wide open, a stranger stands before her in the dark, and then she's pushed forward by some unseen force. In another scene she's beaten and battered by the unknown presence and winds up in the neighbors pool nearly drowned to death. Let's not forgot to mention she's a writer of some sort. She's struggling to finish a deadline and gives up due to the stress of what's happening around her plus losing her baby, when she gets an idea. She begins writing WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO PROTECT BLACK WOMEN? Why this movie pretended to be a short horror film to get its point across, I'll never know. Skip this short film. I wish I had.

This movie had most, if not all the potential to have been better; but the ambiguity of its plot, in my opinion posed a stumbling block to its greatness. I for one didn't understand if it was a movie about postpartum depression or mental slavery. I settled for post postpartum depression initially, but as the tape finally rolled towards the climax with Gemina in the pool and another version of her trying to drown her, it swayed my mind towards mental slavery; only to expunge my conclusion again with the text on her screen which reads: "How to help black women." This text further stirred more controversy than there already was with the plot. Thus, leaving me with a cliff hanger to decide for myself what the movie was about. But despite these drawbacks, I must commend the beautiful sound in the movie, coupled with great acting from the cast.

... Might have to be a woman to understand. The protagonist lost her baby in childbirth and like a lot of women, and black women especially, the doctors dismissed her and didn't listen to her concerns. Probably throughout her pregnancy or in the 3rd trimester, she felt something was wrong, got a lot of women are dismissed by male doctors sometimes female doctors as being hysterical and there's nothing wrong. She ended up with preeclampsia which is a rather common but possibly deadly condition and it appeared the doctors blamed it on her. After the loss, the father of the baby leaves her and she's home alone and absolutely nobody is understanding her pain. She's weathering her pain and loss and grief and blame at home alone and she's having a hard time of it and most of all with herself. What's real and what's not real we're not sure but it's definitely affecting her mental and physical health. At least one other person here got it. Nobody else seems to have gotten what this short film was all about. Pity.

When I saw Alfre Woodard was in this, I had to see it. She always brings class to every role and is such a natural actress. It's not her fault this script was bad. It just made no sense. Yes it's a short, but shorts are usually meant to leave you wanting more or are begging to be made into feature films. Everything about this is misleading. Intentionally? You keep watching hoping it will go somewhere and that the dialogue will improve, or that the characters will become interesting or fleshed out at least a little, but...what was that ending?! All that just to make it about race in a situation where race had literally nothing to do with anything?!?! What a wasted opportunity. Yes sometimes racism exists in 2023, but once again the demand for it far exceeds the supply.

I wish I could get my 20 minutes back. It was set up well, the acting was good, and the actors were noticeable. The story line had premise. Advertised as though it would chill me to the bone... I'm hot under the collar after that. I have no idea what this was meant to be about; the only inclination I even had that it was the end of the "film" was that she was dressed better and the music changed. I did film studies so I get metaphors, and I don't understand this. This was like the first 20 minutes of what may have been a decent film. It isn't wrapped up, so don't waste your time. Or do, and review it so I know what I just watched!

That was absolutely AMAZING! The actress Alexis Louder, was OUTSTANDING. My heart raced the whole way through. It's every mothers nightmare - losing a baby at birth or pre-birth. It was hard to follow what was real and what was in her imagination - E.g., her mother was so unsympathetic and self-centred. The male friend, I'm unsure if he truly thought she was coming into him, after losing her baby; or was that her imagination. No matter though, because the whole point was EVERYONE was ignoring her needs and her pain. The same with the hospital doctors dismissive attitude - was that truly because she was black? That stuck with me. Then at the end the title of her story confirmed my thoughts. It broke my heart realising it was true that she was treated badly because of her colour. I am a white woman and I'm ashamed of my colour a lot of the time. We are all GOD's children. We are FAMILY. The final scenes where she was being dragged off and beaten, like a demonic entity has grabbed her. It was then the Penny dropped for me, and what ended up being my title came to me. IT WAS HER ALL ALONG!!! Struggling to forgive herself. So destructive. A truly beautiful and moving short that will stay with me forever. Pleased to see Bradley Cooper's name attached. BRAVO to the Director MEGALYN ECHIKUNWOKE. Also, INDEPENDENT FILMS.