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Telling a story on film that offers any feeling of “completeness” in six minutes or less is certainly a challenge. Often these films end up feeling more like scenes from longer-form pieces that we never get to see.

“Mirror, Mirror,” the Betrayal Fest entry of Flyin’ Monkey Films (also known as Rodney V. Smith), is one of the rare shorts that gives you both: a sense of story closure, and a desire to see the story expanded.

At it’s heart, “Mirror, Mirror” is a riff on the Brothers Grimm classic Snow White, a creative re-imagining of what might have happened had the Brothers lived in Atlanta.

Click here to download and watch “Mirror, Mirror”

Personally, if I want to know whether a short is going to be worth watching or not, the first place I look is at the talent on screen. Nothing says “amateur hour” quite like dinner-theater-quality actors being asked to play Hollywood. Thankfully, the casting choices in “Mirror, Mirror” are spot-on and the performances are crisp and solid. Maia Nicholson (as Talini) and Kathleen Boddington (as Regina) handle the story perfectly, moving deftly between innocence and manipulation.

Like most DVX Fest films, the budget of “Mirror, Mirror” was certainly limited. But director/writer/cinematographer Smith certainly doesn’t let that get in the way of telling a captivating story. In fact, the craft behind this film is as strong as shorts with much larger bugets. The score by Damian Sanchez is effective and economical, being only as present as it needs to be to move the action forward. The visual effects are likewise understated but effective, which fits perfectly in the overall aesthetic of the piece.

Perhaps the thing I like most about “Mirror, Mirror” is that it doesn’t feel the need to tell us everything. It doesn’t bog the story down with voice-over laden exposition or setup. Instead, filmmaker Smith (working with co-writer Andrew Stoute) wisely allows his beautiful cinematography and the work of his actresses to show us everything we need to know for the story to feel complete.

Here’s a list of cast and crew…

CREW:

TALINI: Maia Nicholson
REGINA: Kathleen Boddington

CREW:

Director: Rodney Smith
Writers: Rodney Smith & Andrew Stoute
Cinematographer: Rodney Smith
Production Sound: Joe Davidson
Gaffer: Daniel Tayag
Key Grip: Joe Davidson

Original Score: Damian Sanchez
Visual FX: Justin R. Durban
Production Designer: Kelly Diaz
Sound Designer: Brad Semenoff