"When You Find Me" Review

Setting

The setting is the time and place a work is set in. The short film is set in the past (1991) and the present. The past represents the imagination of a child's mind. This imagination is visualized through Lisle's playfulness from the beginning to her attempt to visit her mother in heaven by traveling in a spaceship, which in reality is a crashed plane. The present represents the cruel reality of the world which Lisle is living in as a grown-up, yet still thinking about her childhood.. The crashed plane is the one place which serves as a portal to the unknown for Lisle. The plane serves to create a unique environment for a child's imagination to bloom. Although its is broken Lisle's imagination makes it seem like it turned on and transported her to her mother. This is point in the short where her dream to meet her mother in heaven seems like it could finally become a reality.

Character

A character "can be anyone or anything,"and in this short film the main characters who drive the story forward are Lisle and Aurora. After the death of their mother, Aurora forms hatred towards Lisle who she blames for not being able to see her mother for the last time in the hospital. This newly formed separation is illustrated by the wooden pole placed in between the sisters. The young Lisle serves as a gateway for the audience into the story; her naivete of the world reflects the audience's curiosity towards the story. She is motivated to find her mother, but she doesn't understand the sad truth of the situation.  Her older self is present to bring closure to the story line and tie in all ends together involving her relationship with her sister and mother. Where Lisle is too young to understand, Aurora is old enough to have to live with the burden of how she treated her mother the last time she was alive. This hatred of herself is expressed on Lisle's actions and stays inside her until she is finally ready to let go of it as an adult. It is Lisle's innocence and the strong character motivation of both of the sisters which makes them well developed protagonists.

Backstory & Relationship

Apart from the relationship we see between the sisters, one of the most important has to be the relationship between them (specifically Aurora) and their mother. The still body of their on the shoulders of the girls' father indicate the passing of their mother. The scarf on the mother's head and the lack of hair indicated she had been fighting cancer, but this is never confirmed (maybe because it doesn't need to be). The dark circles under the father's eyes as he looks at his daughter also show his devotion to his wife. While his young children were at home, he stayed by her side until the very end. The lack of emotion for him in this scene is only a cover-up to not let his children see him in such a way, which could set a bad example for them. He wants them to stay strong, which is why he pulls out the curtains to hide the truth, even for a very small time. These bottled up emotions are never good and his breaking point in the film is every evident. When Lisle becomes lost, he is furious and the only person to let his anger out on is Aurora, who is partly to blame for the happening. He shows this emotion because he has just lost his wife just the thought of loosing a child hurts him. He couldn't do anything about his wife' s situation, but he is determined to do all he can to protect his children.

Goal

After learning that her mother has gone to heaven, Lisle makes it her goal to get to outer space to meet her mother in heaven for one more time. Obviously the is outrageous, but in her eyes anything is possible. In a dream, she sees herself traveling into outer space on a rocket ship where she finds a squid. The squids opens up and reveals a bright light from where her mother emerges. The whole sequence was made with 2D animation rather than real actors in a 3D environment to show how unrealistic her dream is. All of this signifies Lisle's behavior because it highlights for the audience to remember that Lisle is really just a little kid. When Aurora learns of this personal goal of Lisle, she is dumbstruck and doesn't understand how to explain the situation to Lisle. This situation also reminds the audience that Aurora is also a young girl and her decisions need to be looked at with that fact in mind. 

Time

Time plays a major role in this short film. The story form the girls' childhood is still very much a reality in their adult lives. All the things that needed to said have not been said and all the things that needed to be done were not completed. Lisle lives her life, but what bothers her is that she never told anyone about her experience in the plane. As an adult, she expresses her memory and how she felt in an emotional scene with Aurora. Aurora does not believe her, but it is more important for Lisle to say what she should have said many years ago than hear the acceptance from her sister. Aurora also comes to accept at the end the reasons for her anger and frustration towards Lisle as kids when their mother died. It is the anger she feels toward herself but at the time needed to find someone to blame it on. Through the passing of time, the sisters build a stronger relationship between one another. From the way Aurora complained about her job, it can be predicted that this secret was the reason that held her back form living her life to the fullest; instead, she could never find a way to forgive herself for talking to her mother in such as brutal way as a child. 

Obstacle

The obstacle in the film is portrayed not only by the gate in the graveyard, but also by the emotional scene that follows. For Lisle, the gate is point she needs to cross to get to her "spaceship" to head to outer space and find her mother in heaven. For Aurora, however, the gate is the bridge she cannot allow to cross because it only leads to more desperation. Sadly, but in a way thankfully in a way, Aurora gives in and helps her sister cross the gate to
"get to the other side." It is possible that Aurora also believes, or at least hopes, that Lisle could find a way to talk to her mother because she desperately needs to talk to her for the one last time. When she finally realizes that such things cannot exist, Lisle is out of her sight and deep into the darkness of the graveyard. The shot that follows shows Aurora behind the gate unable to get across. This shot symbolizes that Aurora feels like she is locked up behind bars because of the lack of options she has to do anything to protect her sister.

Mood & The Unknown

With the very first shot of the film, the mood seems to be calming yet depressing in a way. The film manages to begin in the middle of an action. This is a bit confusing to the audience which is part of the reason why the audience becomes interested. It s shot of a large white tree within a beautiful scene. The colors are abnormal, which takes it out of this world. All the greens  have tuned into whites. White is color usually associated with the after life, which is major motif in this film. The girl in the shot, Aurora, is wearing white to indicate that she is almost a part of the environment around her. The lack of colors and different textures makes the shot feel incredibly simplistic. This simplicity further brings the audience to a place of serenity. The color white also brings forth a positive connotation indicating that although not much is known, everything will be alright.