The Confession

The Confession
Ireland, running time: 3:40.

Let me start by saying all of the films in Showcase 1 (with the exception of one) were brilliant. I could easily write about any of these films but The Confession left a lingering impression. A young man sheepishly enters a gloom and doom type cathedral, and nervously begins confessing his sins. The priest recognizing the young man asks him how he is and what he has done. He admits to having slept with a “loose woman.” The priest instead of granting absolution tries to get the juicy details and the name of the girl. The young man refuses to answer as the priest throws out specific names, but he refuses to admit or give any clues to his woman. The priest upset with both the man’s sin and the denial of gossip gives him a few prayers to say and tells him he can not come to church for three months. He leaves the confessional and kneels down to another young man who asks “What did you get?” He responds “Well…I got three months vacation and five good leads.”

This film shows the power of a twist and a joke. They do very well establishing and playing up the doom and gloom aspect of the Catholic Church. This gets the audience expecting one thing, and then the priest digs for personal information which is humorous in its own right, but the twist of the young man trying to figure out who are indeed “loose women” in the area and trying to get out of attending church. On the surface it was really simple, a build up to a punch line, but they blew everyone away with the “how” they did it. It was shot and produced beautifully. In talking to everyone at the after-party, this short film (under four minutes) remained in everyone’s head and was one of the first screenings big hits. No one saw it coming and this, pound for pound, is a dynamite short film.