As if each of these characters mentioned so far weren’t given enough screentime to assert their relevance, we are introduced to Alice (Leslie Murphy) and the story takes on a new meaning. It carries such cafard with it that it weighs one down like the trauma must for Emily. His liquid eyes stay on her as does the audience’s and we want to save her from herself.ĭavid Bertok’s music is another crucial element to Split Second’s success. As she furiously begins researching the bombing through newspaper reports, Mark’s concern, support and reassurance is expressed through Shukla’s worried glances. Instead of being self-absorbing or self-pitying, Emily becomes a struggling survivor, constantly fighting the guilt, reasoning with herself. Donelle cleverly uses the reporter interviewing Emily, and Mark, as soundboards to Emily’s thoughts and unspoken words. It’s to the credit of Kennedy and Nikhil Shukla, who plays Mark, her partner in the film, that we understand the guilt, pain and trauma of being the survivor. Emily is numb, withdrawn and almost distant, but Kennedy breathes believability into her. Kennedy adds a measured composure to her performance.
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Survivor’s guilt is understandable, but to make it relatable one requires skill and talent. Why save her? What prompted a determined terrorist to single out Emily from among his other victims? The story is a slow, measured undoing of that split-second decision. We subconsciously take note of the patrons at the cafe on that fateful day when Michael Teh, who plays the suicide bomber, detonates the device just after pushing Emily (Jessica Parker Kennedy) to safety. And it’s interesting to note that both Donelle and cinematographer Pierce Cook don’t dramatise the events or setting with complicated sequences, angles or colours. This is a skilled move, not only allowing the actors to have the space to conjure their characters, but also letting the audience absorb the visuals without any distraction. Unlike scripts that use dialogues to push their storyline forward, writer Tiziana Giammarino uses silence. There is such reassuring ambiguity about the characters that they feel real. Donelle uses all of these gestures to establish her characters. A furtive glance, a sincere greeting, and then a whisper. Unbeknownst to her, a man has taken note of her presence.
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It’s a bright and sunny day at downtown Los Angeles as First Grade teacher Emily, walks purposefully into La Cafe for a morning sip. Director Julianne Donelle’s Split Second is a nuanced and layered narrative of such an event, but executed so delicately, that one begins to understand the gravity of similar tragedies from a new lens. But what about the survivors? Barring a select few that pursue them to ‘‘decode’’ the violent events, there are very few in this subgenre that explore this much-overlooked segment. Their devastations and the subsequent mayhem they cause have been well documented too. Too often have movies been made on arson and terror plots.