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Alleviate (2023), A Tragic & Poignant Short Film by Daniel Keeble

Alleviate (2023)

&NewLine;<p>Grief is universal&period; Every single one of us has suffered the loss of a loved one — or will suffer it in the future&period; Despite its pervasiveness&comma; grief is a complex emotion&comma; one that&&num;8217&semi;s not always easy to explain coherently&period; French philosopher and author Albert Camus began his 1976 essay&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nytimes&period;com&sol;1976&sol;03&sol;16&sol;archives&sol;losing-a-loved-one&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Losing a Loved One<&sol;a>&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Losing a loved one&comma; uncertainty about what we are&comma; these are deprivations that give rise to our worst suffering&period;” It is this experience of loss and suffering that drives the narrative in writer&sol;director <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm7214321&sol;&quest;ref&lowbar;&equals;tt&lowbar;ov&lowbar;wr" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Daniel Keeble<&sol;a>’s short film&comma; <em>Alleviate<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar;&comma; an <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;arkpictures&period;co&period;uk&sol;films&sol;alleviate" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">ARK Pictures<&sol;a> production&period; However&comma; it is the leading man&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm2662620&sol;&quest;ref&lowbar;&equals;tt&lowbar;ov&lowbar;st" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Darren Kent<&sol;a>&comma; who brings all of that pain to life&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Few would describe me as soft-hearted&semi; I prefer to look at things through a clinical&comma; analytical&comma; lens&period; I knew going into the film that Darren Kent had passed at the age of 36&comma; shortly after he and Keeble wrapped filming in June of 2023&period; Though Kent’s resumé includes such big-hitters as <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;amzn&period;to&sol;43Txh5K" rel&equals;"sponsored nofollow">Game of Thrones<&sol;a><&sol;em> and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;amzn&period;to&sol;3xnvvxg" rel&equals;"sponsored nofollow"><em>Mirrors<&sol;em> &lpar;2008&rpar;<&sol;a>&comma; I was unfamiliar with his work&comma; and perhaps more importantly&comma; his appearance&period; You see&comma; Darren Kent suffered from various ailments&comma; including osteoporosis&comma; which gave him a dangerously thin frame and limited mobility&comma; as well as a skin condition that&comma; at first glance&comma; made me think that he might have been the victim of a devastating fire&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>It may sound crass or cruel to describe Darren Kent’s appearance in this way&comma; but as a former casting director&comma; I can say with absolute certainty that his appearance helped get him through the door for many of his biggest roles&period; However&comma; after watching Kent in <em>Alleviate<&sol;em>&comma; I can confirm that he was far more than a unique-looking man&period; He was an exceptionally talented actor&comma; whose physical debilitations and untimely death only made his performance that much more heart-wrenching&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I focus much of my attention on Kent because&comma; to a certain degree&comma; he <em>is<&sol;em> this film&period; Yes&comma; Keeble and the rest of the crew do an excellent job writing&comma; framing&comma; and lighting Darren Kent’s character&comma; Micheal&comma; but ultimately&comma; Kent is the one who makes the film something so special&period; Unlike Keeble’s previous work&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;2022&sol;05&sol;27&sol;viadolo-2021-short-film&sol;"><em>VIA<&sol;em>&lbrack;DOLO&rsqb;<&sol;a> &lpar;2021&rpar;&comma; <em>Alleviate<&sol;em> has a much clearer message&comma; even if it takes a little while to put the pieces together&period; That said&comma; it might be that <em>Alleviate<&sol;em> only feels clearer because grief is so relatable&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;04&sol;Screenshot-2024-04-06-at-6&period;30&period;29 PM-1024x528&period;png" alt&equals;"Alleviate short film darren kent" class&equals;"wp-image-2831"&sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-element-caption"><em>Alleviate<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The film takes place almost entirely in Michael’s home&comma; where he speaks about the great pain and loss he feels at the death of a loved one&period; He seems to answer questions that have not been asked&comma; which leaves the viewer in the dark for a while&period; Is Michael speaking to voices in his head&quest; Is he speaking to the camera&quest; Are we&comma; as viewers and unwanted guests in his home&comma; pestering Micheal with painful memories&quest; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>After a few minutes&comma; the initial conversations are replayed&comma; so to speak&comma; revealing that Micheal is indeed speaking to himself — but which &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;himself” that is remains a mystery&period; At times&comma; it seems that Michael is speaking to his own conscience&comma; or perhaps a future version of himself&comma; or a version of himself from an alternate reality&period; What is clear is that Micheal has only himself to uncover the root of his pain and the feelings of guilt he clings to&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>I will say that the ending brings a sense of closure that&comma; though not entirely necessary&comma; does give an otherwise depressing narrative a sense of hope&period; But&comma; thanks in large part to Kent’s unforgettable performance&comma; we must suffer along with him&period; We watch his body&comma; seemingly wracked with scars and pain&comma; heave as he takes each breath and weeps for what was taken from him&period; His physical pain is only surpassed by his emotional pain&comma; and the feeling that no matter what he does&comma; he’ll never return to a life without that emptiness&comma; or as Camus may have put it&comma; that deprivation&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;04&sol;Screenshot-2024-04-06-at-6&period;30&period;58 PM-1024x514&period;png" alt&equals;"Darren Kent actor" class&equals;"wp-image-2832"&sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-element-caption"><em>Alleviate<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Camus’s belief in the absurdity of &&num;8220&semi;meaning&&num;8221&semi; is particularly apropos for a critical analysis of <em>Alleviate<&sol;em>&comma; especially knowing Darren Kent would not survive to see his own performance&period; Camus had a firm grasp of grief and how we torture ourselves with it&comma; churning ourselves up about things over which we often have no control&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is not easy to believe that without providence to do the bookkeeping of his pain&comma; self-punishing man furnishes his own despair&comma;” Camus wrote&comma; foretelling Michael’s story of self-blame and self-abuse&comma; actions that allow him to feel the loss to its fullest&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>Alleviate<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar; packs a lot of emotional weight into a 14-minute runtime&period; Daniel Keeble has once again found a way to combine the absurd&comma; the tragic&comma; and the sublime into something altogether unique&period; Most importantly&comma; <em>Alleviate<&sol;em> stands as a beautiful dedication to the life and work of Darren Kent&comma; a man who must have been no stranger to suffering&comma; and whose skills as an actor will never be forgotten&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size"><em>Alleviate<&sol;em> &lpar;2023&rpar; Movie Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;h3>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>If you’d like to keep up with Daniel Keeble’s work&comma; you can <&sol;em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;instagram&period;com&sol;daniel&lowbar;&lowbar;keeble&sol;"><em>follow him on Instagram<&sol;em><&sol;a><em>&period; Alleviate will make its film festival debut in May 2024&comma; and will soon be available to stream online&period; <em>This review contains affiliate links&period;<&sol;em> For more film reviews like this one&comma; be sure to check out the <&sol;em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;"><em>Philosophy in Film<&sol;em><&sol;a><em> homepage&excl;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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