In these two short films, the total opposites of emotions are briefly explored as singular moments in a woman’s life, evoking a sense of Mike Leigh’s slice-of-life storytelling. One about the celebration of freedom and the other about the fear of encountering a simple sense of dread.
Running at a combined 6 minutes and 40 seconds, these two films are simple expressions of what women feel in these separate environments. These are public places and random encounters with others, and how common it is, for better or for worse.
Body Heat is a two-minute poem set to the rhythm of a nightclub. The words are a celebration of freedom and belonging with random people who are there for the same reason. Sexually suggestive, the lines of being openly vulnerable and warming with everyone like an open book of oestrogen, regardless of whether the other person is male or female (or non-binary).
Andrea Smileanschi‘s simplistic montage is filled with a high-tempo montage of neon lights and close-ups of the body sweating. It offers doses of Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex, celebrating life as a young person and not wanting to be confined to daily, modern blandness. That is what a rave does, wherever everyone is your friend.
With Badger, it is the complete opposite of this unity, and writer-director Martha Crow recounts a singular moment that many women experience. The statistic at the end is a sad reminder of how common it is and how scared women are coming forward to tell what happened because many think nothing can be done. This subject is sexual harassment, and while it could trigger some people, this isn’t a hardcore case. But the actions are just enough that any person would recognize a moment they have experienced.
A woman is waiting for help after finding a badger in the woods hurt. A man passes by and sees this, stopping for a moment while trying to start a conversation with the woman. Slowly, the conversation turns as he begins to get a little aggressive moment by moment, and even closes in on her inch by inch.
He is the real badger, badgering on and on and not getting the hint that she’s not interested in her, and in the end, she feels icky as the man watches her leave. There is no physical contact, but the damage is done to what such harassment can make a woman feel in a situation like that.
These two short films don’t need to be longer than they present themselves, as the point is made clearly. Both Smileanschi and Crow put up two separate moments that can capture what a woman has in their life, even if it was a fleeting moment. Too common to have fun and be fearless, but also too common to be preyed upon without their permission.
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