82 – (2012)

Love or hate the short movie, they are here to stay. Once in a blue moon you see a short movie so good, you just have to talk about it. This is exactly how I felt having seen Calum MacDiarmid’s 6 minute short 82.

Starring Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels star Nick Moran, 82 follows a postman (Moran) on his morning delivery round, all is quite fine on the surface, but this postman has a vested interest in his round.

MacDiarmid directs this feature like a pro, while Alexei Slater the writer delivers some incredibly catchy lingo, that rolls of the tongue like poison in Moran’s performance. But it’s obviously Moran who creates the real feel for the piece, a depiction of evil so subtle, it’s scary.

82 is filmed in Kingston Upon Thames, and part of its strength is that it is filmed in the “perfect” street. Combine this with the darkness of the leading character, and you have an unsettling vision of life in a typical modern day British community.

82 is a tale so brief, but so solid, it leaves you wanting more. Unlike many short’s it has real purpose, is powerful, and ultimately has the ability if handled correctly to be transformed to the big screen for a feature length offering. While you might think a movie with a running time of just 6 minutes might not have much to offer, you really feel at the end like they just touched the tip of the iceberg.

I wait with interest to see what happens with this film.