2022 Entry #017 01-31-22 “In Beating Cells” is a 25 minute 2017 short German film which was directed by Richard Kranzin. The plot follows 4 friends as they take a trip to the country. The friends are Rico (Philipp Kronenberg), Julia (Linn Reusse), Friedrich (Lukas Sperber) & Eva (Zarina Zöller). Rico & Eva feel free in the country, Julia is cool with it but is looking forward to returning to the city and Friedrich is conflicted between his attraction to Rico (which is reciprocated without judgment by the others) and his girlfriend back home.
“We all get lost…with beating hearts…in beating cells. This small world, this pulsating membrane. Even in one leaf there are thousands. I want to feel it…before we forget it.”
I liked this one a lot. Sometimes shorts feel like fragments of something better…or like a rough draft that need not be developed to fruition, but given the poetry that flows through this piece, I felt it was perfect as is. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t welcome a feature length version, but it’s one of those shorts that accomplishes a lot in a very short amount of time.