Ivan Kander
Beyond the pumpkin pie and turkey and football, there is another Thanksgiving tradition that, for me, is intrinsically connected to the holiday. Yes, it’s a time for family, but coming from a small town, Thanksgiving is also an annual opportunity to reconnect with old friends—the high school BFFs whom you no longer talk to much any more. You see, as cold-blooded as this might sound, friendships are often a product of convenience—people tend to hang out with those whom they are geographically close to. Take away that proximity, and it’s easy to slowly drift away from one another. It’s no one’s fault, really; it’s just that the bond of your connection wasn’t really worth making a true effort for.
Admittedly, that’s a pretty long-winded set-up for We Were Awesome—a short film that is so basic in its approach. Adapted from Daniel Kanaber’s short play, Geese of Beverly Road, and crafted by boutique San Francisco production company, WORK, We Were Awesome is a short that proves you can infuse a lot of meaning into a film using a very limited set of cinematic collateral. This is a deceptively simple short—one location, two actors, a single conversation, and just six minutes of screen-time. We watch as our two leads Adam and James, childhood friends, reconnect, attempting to re-capture the magic when life was simple, when they were dumb and awesome. The result is poetic and nostalgic, a depiction of a friendship that never really went sour, yet peaked long ago.
You could argue that the film’s action is almost too subtle—the interaction between Adam and James never bursts into an obvious source of conflict. But, considering the brief runtime, I found the nuanced approach authentic. In reality, confrontations like that don’t happen—rather we choose to keep our thoughts to ourselves, avoiding the reality of the situation, opting instead to sit back and just watch the sun rise. The performances are strong, and director Jesse Coane captures an honest rapport between both actors.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Table for One, another short from this same creative team. Like this film, it too captures the perspective of that late 20’s-early 30’s generational set in an honest and effecting way.