The award-winning "Missing a Note" is a British live action short film from 2019 that runs for over a quarter of an hour and was written and directed by Beth Moran. This was her first effort as the person in charge (her gender does not matter, this is about equality), even if she has worked in smaller positions on many projects already before that. But now let's talk about this one here: I enjoyed the watch overall. i think all the actors did a fine job here and contributed to this film becoming a success. The script is okay too and so is the duration. It really should not have been much llonger though because otherwise there could have been the danger that it turned into a mediocre film all in all and perhaps dragged a bit. But the path they actually took was fine. I think lead actress Darcy Jacobs here has not really the material to make this into a great performance, but what she does is nothing short of convincing and she was a good pick to play the main character. Of course, they also had to look out for an actress who is a really good singer and it shows here. Her first turn was good, her second turn was great, even if I was a bit surprised by how much she improved. But it's alright. It's working nicely. There is also some nice heart in this film and this is linked closely to Ian McElhinney. Or I should say his character in fact. He is also the by far most known cast member (mostly thanks to Game of Thrones), maybe followed by the "actress" who plays his wife, Elaine Paige, even if probably outside Britain she is not too famous. Anyway, back to the male protagonist here and he is a retired opera singer, very successful back in the day, but now we find out together with the girl that he suffers from dementia as he forgot about how she was already there earlier and things did not go too well. At least not as well as the second time. The way how the girl understands what is going on and we cannot be sure if she does was as emotional (culminating in a brief statement to her mother in the car at the very end before the closing credits roll in) as the wife's tears because of what happened. It is pretty a pretty sad film too, but also somewhat uplifting at the same time thanks to the girl and her talent when it comes to singing. So I think this is one of the best short films from 2019 I have seen and it delivers very nicely on a difficult subject. The dedication when the closing credits roll in imply that the making of this film meant a lot to Moran because of a case in her family. Or at least because of a death. I don't know if this one is also linked to Alzheimer's or dementia. It's not important either. What matters is that this was a really good little movie and it certainly should be seen my more when it is easier to get a hand on. Somebody without my talent when it comes to finding unknown short films may have a hard time, but I hope things get easier because with the awards recognition I doubt this film will be forgotten soon. Also pretty impressive outcome given Moran's lack of experience here. A better rookie effort (not sure her documentary was released before or after that) than those by many big name filmmakers. I hope she can build a career on that. Same hopes for Jacobs. Their combined effort here is something you really don't wanna miss out on. It's sweet, touching and artistic. A must-see! Don't pay attention to the imdb rating that was probably caused by disgruntled trolls/bots. I hope my rating can make thing a little more fair again. After all I am among the Top1000 voters here on imdb.
Review of Missing a Note
