Favourites (short film) Tribeca Review – a wickedly sharp five-minute wonder

In the space of just five minutes, Russell, Musgrove and a superb ensemble cast deliver a snapshot of one moment in time in the life of a family that changes everything as one dad’s actions shift the direction of family life forever. Favourites is showing at the Tribeca Film Festival from June 9 – 15. BOOK TICKETS

We all have favourites. From your favourite movie to the flavour of ice cream you simply can’t resist, the idea of favourites is a part of our shared human experience. But sometimes, it’s best to keep our favourites hidden, especially when discussing the people in our lives! If only someone had told Keith (Stephen Curry), the events of Nick Russell’s deliciously dark and wicked Australian short film might not have played out as they did.

Keith is on a camping trip with his wife, Justine (Sibylla Budd) and their two teenage kids, Patrick (Chris Labbett) and Emily (Imogen Labbett), when a snake with a taste for adolescent flesh interrupts proceedings by biting the two kids. The snake is poisonous, and the kid’s life signs are quickly fading as Justine and Keith pull up outside a small outback clinic. But as the doctor on call (Tony Briggs) and his trusty nurse (Maria Angelico) attempt to look for the right antivenom to save the sprogs, disaster looms; there is only one vile of antivenom left, and Keith and Justine must decide which of their kids gets the dose.

Russell’s sharp and delightfully dark five-minute wonder opens as a taut medical drama as Keith and Justine rush their kids into the medical facility, sweat dripping from their faces. But Russell and co-writer Nick Musgrove have a delightfully wicked trick up their sleeves as proceedings suddenly and sharply take a different turn.

In the space of just five minutes, Russell, Musgrove and a superb ensemble cast deliver a snapshot of one moment in time in the life of a family that changes everything as Keith’s actions shift the direction of family life forever.