UK
3 OUT OF 4 STARS
Cruelty can be a smooth seducer.
Daniel Cohen created a hands-on short for Amnesty International's Protect the Human program, where multi-fingered actors audition for the new face of domestic violence. "AbFab"'s Joanna Lumley voices the casting director, narrowing choices down to the best of the most bitter.
Of the final three, the first two are physically obvious and can be identified from a mile away as examples of anger. The last is slyly voiced by Patrick Stewart, who begins as slick and tempting but grows into an unpredictable explosion.
A subtle example of what terrors lie underneath the most charming shells, Cohen uses uncomplicated means to convey the message. The short short is effective in its simplicity.