On the way to work, a thirty-year-old man encounters two young boys playing war with their self-made toy guns. Something stirs inside the man and suddenly he finds himself joining the children’s game. Completely wrapped up in the action, the man (thanks to his superior life experience) changes the rules of the game, which soon causes him to lose his grip on reality.
Whereas there is no doubt that the loss of one’s innocence is a central theme for the film (that can be argued for the kids and even the man in more abstract terms), underneath there is a warning of the dangers of pretending and not acting one`s real age. Message understood (Anti Peter-Pan Syndrome), yet sometimes warnings are easy to dismiss.
The plot of the Dutch short film Gamechanger is void of clichés, which enhances one`s viewing experience by boosting the uncertainty of what is going to happen next. As a result, the tension levels automatically rise. Hand-held camera techniques and excellent sound design (reminiscent of Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson in I Declare War ) – further enhances the believably factor and atmosphere of the action. Brilliantly directed by Christian van Duuren, Gamechanger is an impactful short film well worthy of anyone’s time.
[imdb]https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5771750/reference[/imdb]