Pet Plant Review
Pet Plant is a 2021 short film directed by Savon Highsmith with writing from Walker Clark and Savon Highsmith.
A silly but poignant reflection on what it takes to get over the hardships of a long-term relationship ending, Pet Plant has some great emotional beats throughout.
To start it must be discussed that the decision to carry the film as mostly silent came as a curious one. Not because it is inherently wrong in any capacity, but because there are moments where obvious communication is delivered between two characters that is not heard.
This is something that it can be assumed many viewers might find a touch frustrating. As we still have moments where talking is heard over the phone and various sound effects are heard as well. A silent piece can certainly be done, it just needs to go strongly in having music alone with some minor sound effects or just have the typical dialogue throughout.
Moving on from that ramble, the story proper is easily relatable, showing a guy who is trying to move past a break up so he is attempting to fill that void with a pet. The decision for that pet to be a plant is certainly a fun one, but perhaps there needed to be a bit more reasoning for the plant to have a connection. For example, if the plant was the last thing the ex didn’t take when she claimed her belongings, it would have added another layer of a metaphor for letting go of the relationship.
It needs to be stated that the effects of the pet plant were great and very well done. It would be too spoiler heavy to talk about any further, but the crew who made it all happen as well as it was deserves a round of applause for the efforts. Skilled work all around!
So, with all of this in mind, what do we get at the end of the day? Well, Pet Plant has a good heart, and some strong production value behind it. Does everything land perfectly? Not a hundred percent, but the charm and soul behind it all still make it a strong short all around.
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Cheers!
Daniel Hess
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