Jule (Marlene Fahnster), an aspiring photographer who has seemingly lost her taste for the art, is given a task by her sister. She is to go out into the city and find something to photograph, something she wouldn't want to forget.
After warning us about the potentially dangerous rise of Artificial Intelligence with Turing Test, writer/director Jaschar Marktanner is now exploring the human experience through a unique lens - pardon the pun. Jule is a person who was searching for something - striving, even - but for some reason she has stopped. She has almost walled herself off from the world. What is it that she was searching for? And why has her love of photography waned? These are questions that this curious short never really answers, because it doesn't need to. The point here is the journey, and that we all need a push from time to time. Someone to help us get back up. Which is why Jule's task proves so compelling, even without those answers.
Marlene Fahnster delivers a quiet but engaging performance as Jule. She brings distance to the character, a sense that she is somehow lost. Through her time with her sister - played by Lisa Leonard - and her walk through the city, you get a sense of just how much. Which makes you wonder; what is it that she's seeing as she wanders? Something the movie tries to show you, while simultaneously asking its audience what they are seeing. After all, we tend to see the world differently. And then there's Jule's encounter with Francisco Aurell’s ‘Man’, a guy simply waiting for a taxi.
How many people would stop and talk to a stranger? In this day and age, I'd argue; not many. But Jule does, not because she was necessarily looking for a person, but because his presence and what he's doing catches her eye. Something we can see on her face. After seeing Fahnster deliver a mostly emotionless performance in Turing Test, it's fascinating to watch her convey so much of what Jule is feeling through her physical performance as much as what she is saying. What follows is an interesting little encounter between the two characters. Aurell gives this charmingly subtle performance that perfectly plays off of Fahnster's. Making it a genuinely human moment, as these strangers form a tentative but almost immediate connection.
Could this be the start of friendship, or just a momentary encounter? Again, it doesn't really matter. It's more about the moment, and Jule's attempts to reignite that spark. To a degree, Marktanner leaves it all up to interpretation. There are hints, certainly. But things are left surprisingly open, meaning you're likely to come away from this one contemplating where Jule's journey might lead her. Something that makes Perhaps Better That Way feel all the more real.
A charming short revolving around the human experience and how we see our world. The genuine performances and the open-ended nature of the story make Perhaps Better This Way all the more engaging.
8/10
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