User Reviews

I'll be totally honest, I had no preconceptions going in with this film. From the stills I had seen, I imagined that this was going to be another typical gay short with a fair bit of flesh and a vapid storyline, so I was pleasantly surprised. It's an interesting idea to clash grand sci-fi with everyday relationships, and view it through that lens. The film is beautifully shot and edited, with many subtle timing choices adding layers of meaning and scope for speculation or interpretation. The music supports the drama without intruding, and the two performances were really sensitively played.

Mankind didn't feel like it was trying to make a point, which is how all the best dramas get their points across. I was immediately sucked in and really cared, in such a short space of time - and found my allegiances with both men switching as it went on.

Will (Ricky Nixon) betrays nothing less than a seen-it-before defensive stance when confronted by his partner. His character is a distracted, despairing creature whose batteries seem to be winding down as the film progresses. Evan (Alexis Gregory) on the other hand lashes out with all the fury one might expect, though by the end, having worn his heart on his sleeve throughout, he appears almost indifferent and unable to recognise his partner. It's an uncomfortable and devastating moment many will recognise.

While the film could have easily veered into pretentious territory, it is in fact a subtle, very well-made and moving short, albeit with the kind of epic narrative one would usually expect from a feature film. Well done to everyone involved.

"Mankind" is a two-character drama with music that signals something deeply powerful, shocking or disturbing is going to happen... but it never does.

A male couple are having a heated discussion (well, one side is) about the coming demise of their relationship... because one of the partners has been accepted by some secret group to go to Mars to colonize it.

Okay. And... ?

Before it is clear what the discussion is really about, it sounded like it was going to be about one of them having an affair. So, okay, the "surprise" of it being about going to Mars was a bit unique. But.. so what? I'm unclear what the connection was to gay people.

It seems that the filmmaker believed that he was saying something profound, but I could not get what it was. The heated discussion is interspersed with what I guess are supposed to be erotic moments spent at a gay club, a moment or two on a beach (where we see some woman with a t-back) and some moment of the two of them walking down some public hall, half-holding hands and then kissing.

Okay.

The dialogue was the kind where someone says something and then the other person repeats in question form, i.e. A: "I didn't think it would happen this way." B: "You didn't think it would happen this way?!" -- usually with over-the-top anger.

Many moments like that, which made the dialogue sound artificial.

The actors did their best, and dialogue was clear to hear and everything looked fine. But I struggled to get through it and it's under 15 minutes. And the title -- a little too vast for this short film, sorry.

I think possibly one of the greatest gifts, and somehow at the same time greatest curses of being a human being, is the ability to dream. It gives us the ability to strive for greatness and provides escapism when we need it, but at the same time, it comes with the dichotomy of always being able to yearn for more, and perhaps under-value what we have. It allows us to believe our lives can become something great, but it also allows space for the feeling that our normal life will never be enough. When you start to think about it too much, it all gets very existential and the head starts to hurt a bit, but I think what I found so powerful about 'Mankind' is how it captures that entire complex dichotomy in such a short runtime.

The whole back and forth between these two men feels like it could be a back and forth inside one person's own mind over whether to go through with this decision, and simultaneously be like the whole of humanity debating whether this is something we should be doing, regardless of whether or not we can. It's both vast and existential, and somehow at the same time incredibly intimate and personal.

What I possibly enjoyed most about it though, is the fact that the film never tries to push the audience to side with either these two. You can see where both are coming from, and you can see where both is perhaps putting his own interests first. You can understand the pain and the emotion both feel about his respective uncertainty about this bomb that's landed in the middle of their relationship, and the question of what this means for the life they had planned. It's raw, and it's human, and on top of that, I feel like I should add that it's an incredibly visually stunning piece of filmmaking.

I will also quickly say, it's so great to see films with LGBTQ+ representation where the characters' being LGBTQ+ is not the main focus of the narrative conflict - something cinema could do with a lot more of.