Five teenage girls have gathered to discuss their friend Colby, who has gone too far this time.
A soft-knit short film that is ran by intriguing conversations, where five teenage girls have gathered to discuss their friend, Colby. It’s late fall, their senior year of high school, the girls are waiting to escape their boring hometown for larger places, better things. However, first it is necessary to deal with Colby, after all they have a perfect moral right to do so because he is their friend, even belongs to them in various important senses, and he really has gone too far.
Our Friend Colby has gone too far this time.
The film is based on a short story by Donald Barthelme found in a 1973 issue of the New Yorker. In that story a group of grown men gather to discuss the fate of their friend.
I interpreted this short story as a metaphor for the discussions about capital punishment in the United States at the time. In my adaptation of the story the absurd meeting is amongst teenagers causing the conversation as a metaphor to shift towards one about today’s culture of group mentality, public shaming & social exile.
Although based on the story written in the 70s, the film has many contextual attachments to today’s modern society, especially with teens and the pressures that comes from peers and the ever growing social media. While watching the film you can’t help but think of stories like __ and how the girls were actually influenced to take things to such extreme.
The film appears to be a simple narrative but hopefully raises questions, Is it a group decision, gang mentality, his individual decision? Are we punished for pushing things to far? What is too far in modern times? I hope to create a conversation with this piece.
Messaged through soft but marking cinematography, director Chris Rubino managed to channel the emotions simple scenes that keep us integrated with the characters all along. A chilling performance from the cast renders this film into a credible thought provoking film about modern social group pressures.
