By Amy Paige Condon
The short film, “Lessons in Self Defense,” opened the first full day of the Savannah Film Festival Nov. 1. It offers a poignant reminder that stories need not be big, bold and epic to convey essential truths.
Only 12 minutes long, the Lee Miller written-and-directed drama stars Alfred Molina and Ashley Ann-Michaels as an estranged father and daughter, who meet one afternoon at her request.
It becomes immediately apparent that Molina is hoping for reconciliation while his daughter needs something. This something is money, at first, but later it is revealed she needs much more than a blank check.
Molina’s hangdog expression conveys both humor and pathos. Ann-Michaels strikes the balance between a 15-year-old with all the answers and a girl who still needs her daddy.
She would do well to listen when he offers, “The only difference between bitterness and cynicism is that cynicism can lead you to wisdom.”
In their brief encounter, they manage to pick away at the façades they created to protect themselves.
In the interlude between this short film’s ending and the feature’s beginning, “that was wonderful” and “great” were heard in whispers throughout the theater.
Lessons in Self Defense will play again at 11:30 a.m., Nov. 5, at the Lucas Theater.
