(spoiler free)
“With insomnia, you’re never really awake; but you’re never really asleep.” – The Narrator (Fight Club)
There is something deeply intriguing about insomniacs; what’s keeping them awake, what do they do when they can’t get to sleep and just how can they attempt to remedy this? Hollywood is largely responsible for our fascination with all things insomnia related. ‘Fight Club’, ‘Taxi Driver’ & ‘The Machinist’ are all based around lead characters suffering from the condition. So too is the latest short film from Jumpcut Productions whose previous work includes ‘Layla’ & ‘Harlequin’. Their new film, ‘Conscientia’ immediately intrigues through its title as it puts into question right versus wrong.
The film follows Samuel, played by Jakob Lewis Barnes, as he finds himself unable to sleep again and struggling to keep a firm grasp of reality. The events of the film take place in one night and result in Samuel questioning his own morality. As Samuel tries to distinguish what’s in his head and what is real so do the audience thanks to the engaging way in which this short film is shot and written. Previous Jumpcut Productions collaborator Nick Deal is in the directors chair this time around and he’s successfully manages to bring this complex story, by Naim David, to the screen in a very entertaining way. He achieves this using a range of techniques and clearly utilises the abilities of the team around him. Despite the small setting for the film a great variety of shots have been captured giving ‘Conscientia’ a creative and more professional feel to it. The use of colour and gray-scale is executed well and contributes to the story telling effectively. Furthermore, there are so many individual highlights within the film’s small running time constantly keeping the audience invested. On a few occasions the film could have benefited from lingering in these moments a little longer for the purposes of enhancing the atmosphere but they still achieve a wonderful sense of unease amongst the viewer.
Two time director, Jakob Lewis Barnes steps in front of the camera this time around and straight into the leading role. His character Samuel is a complex individual to say the least and certainly a challenging first role for Barnes. Despite this he delivers a good performance, one that gets better with each watch as you really take time to think and understand Samuel’s situation, something it is evident that Barnes has also invested time in. He interacts well with his co-star Hannah Thomas too who plays Samuel’s date, Lauren. She’s a brilliant contrast to Samuel’s darker and more mysterious nature and Thomas is great at portraying this. Part of this is her naivety to Samuel’s condition, the audience are somewhat more informed of this but are far from having all the pieces of the puzzle. Thomas shows real ability in being able to achieve this creating an entertaining dynamic for the audience to enjoy the film through. In addition to these two performances there is also a voice performance. Unfortunately this is one of the weaker elements of the film and I don’t think it will have the desired effect. It comes across a little generic and jarring. It’s not the inclusion of this that is the problem but the production of the performance, it somewhat prevents the otherwise natural flow of the narrative which is a shame. With a stronger execution of this element the film could have become even more accomplished.
Nonetheless ‘Conscientia’ continues the exciting run of short films to come out of Jumpcut Productions thus far. The story is told in an enthralling manner with the cast and crew taking advantage of their collected talent and creativity. The two central performances are solid and show great promise for any potential projects in the future too. If you find yourself counting sheep at night give this a watch, however it’ll do the opposite of put you to sleep. Instead you’ll be caught up in the intricacies of the central character, the assortment of striking scenes and the wonder of what has happened before and what might happen after the story you’ve just witnessed.
Written by Hamish Calvert
‘Conscientia’ will be available to watch on YouTube from Monday 11th December.
Rating – 8/10
Question: What’s your favourite film which features an insomniac?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)
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