Olives Have Little To Do With Anything.

Short films are just like their larger more expensive counterparts in many ways.  They take time, skill and attention to detail in order to create.  In some regards, short films are even more difficult, from inception to production, to create.  You must do everything one normally does in 2 hours and condense it into as little as a few minutes.  Every plot device, every word of dialogue and each twist must be crucial to the overall story.  The Bloody Olive, is one such film that achieves it all in just over 10 minutes.

Part thriller, part mystery, part homage to the peculiar noir genre but most of all, a unique tale of intrigue and backstabbing betrayal.  So much betrayal.  Actually, all of the betrayal.  Now that I come to think of it, I have never witnessed more betrayal than at the hands of our three protagonists.  Well, maybe more like antagonists.  Okay, so there are three characters of equal standing sitting in a room (There’s no punchline to this joke. I’m just setting up the situation).  These three characters cover more twists and turns than all the layers of Inception ever could.  Each twist making the situation clear only as far as the next turn until you are, once again, blindsided by another.  Yes Memento I’m looking at you, you tricky bastard.  This short is unique in every way.

*This is you about every 30 seconds. I can even tell you you’re going to be surprised and you’ll still be surprised.

  It examines a by-gone era, in the strangest of situations with the simplest of set-ups.  Shot in black and white, on what appears to be film stock, this short is spoken in another language and translated by subtitles in not one but two languages.  Yes, the insanity is in three languages just to add an extra layer for all you thrill seekers out there.  Predictable it is not.  The Bloody Olive is an enigma wrapped in a conspiracy sprinkled with mystery to taste (That’s speaking euphemistically.  Even after several viewings the twists still surprise me).  I can not mount anymore praise upon this film than I have.  You must make up your mind for yourself.

9 out of 10 olives hold the blood, or was it, 9 out of 10 bloody moments hold the olives?