2022 Entry #025 02-02-22 “As I Am” is essentially an extended short at just 1 hour and 2 minutes long, which was written & directed by Anthony Bawn (“District”, “The Catharsis Project”). The story concerns an awkward and deeply troubled young man named Emmanuel (Andre Myers) who must come to terms with both his sexual identity and the emotional scars he’s suffered through years of abuse.
I wanted to enjoy this and there are pieces of this that work, but those pieces don’t actually seem to fit together. This feels very much like a rough draft, but it is not as well planned as similar shorts that feel this way. The length itself speaks to this: it’s not exactly a short but it’s not exactly a feature either and the story that’s told doesn’t seem to justify the length; it just feels like a storyteller with no discipline. I wouldn’t say any of the performers are necessarily bad because each one seems to rise to the occasion throughout the production…they just never rise at the same time, which was off-putting and frustrating. Some of them also feel like they should be starring in completely different films. And then there are several clumsy production choices which either made no sense or were not well executed. One example involves the lead character, who wears his glasses all the time, even in the shower or when he’s supposed to be asleep. Do people do that? Or there is a scene in a club where the soundtrack features the sounds of a busy nightclub with lots of people, despite the fact that the two characters in the scene are mostly alone. Maybe this was filmed during Covid-19 restrictions? But if so, then change the location. Don’t contradict the truth and undermine the scene.
I’d recommend skipping this. The story is worthwhile but the execution of that story is flawed