When a young writer, Danny Deck (Baxter Gaston), travels to Austin, Texas for a birthday party, he finds himself immediately wrapped up in a beautiful young woman, Sally (Victoria Jacobsen). While all of his plans haven’t changed, they have certainly been altered since meeting Sally. With some hurdles that need to be cleared before they can leave town together, All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers depicts their first interactions and tells the world that there’s always room for love.
I’m seriously torn when it comes to All of My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers–as I’m really struggling to determine whether or not I like the short film. This feels like it’s part of a whole, like this might just be the pilot of a series–however, it’s credited as a narrative short film. With that the film should feel complete, like it should have depicted a story in its entirety. That’s not the case, though--and the film ultimately feels incomplete. This is the primary reason why I’m so torn, why I can’t figure out if I like the film or not. If I had been told that this was part of a larger project I think I could have gotten on board, but I’m drawn away from All of My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers as a result of it feeling so incomplete.
There are aspects of the narrative that are appealing, and then it seems that there are aspects that feel too far-fetched, that feel like they are out of place. I know that All of My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers is based on real life, on the life of Writer Larry McMurtry–but it’s still sometimes difficult to wrap my head around some of the things that are happening. While Professor Godwin (Brian McArdle) is only a minor character in all of this, it’s his character that becomes incredibly frustrating. He bounces back and forth so violently between moods and his actions seem overly animated–and as he snakes through the short film he becomes more and more difficult to like. Again, he’s not the main character of All of My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers, not by a longshot, but the way in which he develops steals from the film so much.
Deep down the narrative present in All of My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers is about breaking free and finding your way in the world–and that’s a touching sentiment. This is the heart and soul of the film, this is what will likely appeal to viewers and allow them to appreciate the film as a whole.
I struggled with the acting, the development of certain characters, and the fact that All of My Strangers Are Going to Be Friends isn’t complete (and I get that it’s derived from one single chapter of a book–but still). There are a series of hurdles that the film is forced to jump right from the start–but there’s something about the film that feels larger than life, that feels like it has the potential to take the world by storm. When someone or something has “it,” it can be hard to describe–and that’s sort of the pickle I’m in with All of My Strangers Are Going to Be Friends. I know that this film has value, I know that it has the potential to entertain viewers from around the world and from all walks of life, but I just can’t put it into words.
Directed by Stephen Purvis.
Written by Larry McMurtry.
Starring Baxter Gaston, Victoria Jacobsen, Brian McArdle, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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