Heart Shot – Short Film Review

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

“Adrenaline Rush”, “Explosive”, “Exciting” – these are the tags someone at Netflix chose to describe the 2022 short film ‘Heart Shot’. The 19-minute long movie has been directed by Marielle Woods, who has also co-written the script with Lauren Ludwig.

The first few minutes just don’t fit in with the description, although it does keep your curiosity up about what’s going to happen next. Actors Elena Heuze and Nia Sondaya plays girlfriends Nikki and Samantha respectively, two teenagers who want to have a future together but Nikki’s dark past complicates things for them. So what starts off like a cute but sweet looking romantic tale, does take a sudden ‘exciting’ turn, but it is far from explosive.

The twist towards the end is interesting, yes, but it’s just so random and disjointed, that the viewer is left exclaiming “huh?”. And then you rationalize your decision to stream the short by saying “oh well, not bad for a 19 minute film”. Which is true, it’s a forgettable flick that you can watch during your snack break, without worrying about streaming something larger and then reluctantly pausing it to go back to work and more constructive things in life.

The lead actors don’t seem to be very comfortable with each other and the script just doesn’t give them much. The climax is made chaotic by some weird-ass background music, which sounds like a combination of people trying to breathe after running. Otherwise, the movie is shot quite well, the production quality is great, but the 19 minutes have a “prologue” vibe to them, as if it were a really long trailer for a series. It feels incomplete.

But not a bad pick for a 20 minute break. It’s a 5/10 from me.