In today’s Cinema Studies screening, we watch two films. The main film was a documentary called “Grizzly Man”, but as I’d already seen this film a number of years ago, I was more interested in the short film we watched before it called “One Year Lease.”

The film is about a couple (Thomas and Brian) who rent an apartment in New York City that is owned by a fairly eccentric landlady who takes a long time to fix problems with the apartment and shows more interest in the welfare of their cat than the welfare of her tenants. The story itself doesn’t sound over compelling, but the way the film is put together is really interesting. Majority of the audio clips are the voicemails left by Rita (the landlady), which give the audience a clear understanding of what Thomas and Brian are living with. The audio is accompanied by shots inside and outside the apartment, showing its size and various problems.

Towards the end of the film, the gaps between voicemails becomes shorter, suggesting Rita is calling them very frequently. This presents a stark contrast to the next scene showing Brian and Thomas’ new apartment, where there is next to no audio and only one voicemail in the credits, leaving the audience with the feeling that they have found a much better arrangement in their new home.

I really like how simple the style of the film is, and how effectively the story is told with very little action.