THE BUYERS | Omeleto
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- A woman mistrusts her neighbors.
THE BUYERS is used with permission from Felicia Manning. Learn more at feliciamanning....
Adriana is a wife and mother who has recently moved into a new home with her children and husband. While her husband is away for work, she is left to unpack and settle into the new home, and it's a stressful experience since everything has been essentially "shoved into a box" by movers.
Her new neighbors, Carol and Felix, come by to introduce themselves. They're eager to help -- almost off-puttingly so -- but Adriana turns them down. Yet Carol and Felix persist in being neighborly, to the point of being intrusive and offensive. When Adriana tries to banish them off her property altogether, it ignites a confrontation that spins out of control.
Directed by Felicia Manning and written by Samantha Wilson, this sharp and acerbic short film looks like a dark comedy on the surface, riffing on the idea of oddball neighbors who can't seem to pick up on the clues that they're not wanted. It opens with a sense of warm, almost cozy aspiration, capturing Adriana's picture-perfect new neighborhood and home in burnished, polished cinematography. Though her family's belongings are in boxes and Adriana is stressing about having to suddenly move and settle into a new home, we can see how solidly upper-middle-class everything is and how much the family and home epitomize the suburban dream.
Yet as it progresses, the sturdy, well-paced storytelling turns steely and darkly eccentric, beginning with the entrance of Carol and Jack. They are introduced as a set of daffy, almost hapless older neighbors, tone-deaf and clueless but eager to be neighborly. Though Adriana rebuffs them out of politeness, they keep coming back, and each reappearance ratchets up their oddness to increasingly ominous levels, becoming alarmingly intrusive and trampling any conventional boundaries. This progression is matched by a clever shift in the visual language, as camera movements get more disruptive and framings get more skewed.
What emerges is a segue into something like a home-invasion thriller combined with horror, a shift matched in the overall cast's performances. While actor Marissa Pistone is the relatable emotional center of the film as a middle-class mom trying to keep herself and her children safe, actors Michele Karpel and Will Roberts get progressively unhinged and sinister, their descent precisely calibrated. They become truly menacing as they forcibly occupy Adriana's new home, much to the new homeowner's alarm.
THE BUYERS builds tension and suspense in its final section, culminating in a confrontation that foregrounds the film's themes, which don't just emerge but ring out with force. It grounds a tautly crafted, darkly entertaining narrative in a larger examination of class disparities and resentment and the gap between the haves and have-nots. Though the story is resolutely contemporary, using a cut-throat, expensive and competitive real estate market as the backdrop, the way that privilege isolates and marginalizes its collateral damage is an old story The film ends with something of a cliffhanger, but in a sense, it reflects its moral ambiguity, unsure of who is the "bad guy" and who isn't.
Tells overly intrusive and complete strangers that she's at home alone with the kids, and that her husband is many hours away. What could possibly go wrong?
yeah but what could an elderly couple possibily have against a young innocent family. You could agree the ending is unrealistic. the short itself in intriguing and a good idea
Yeah I'd still be wary , notice how the older couple never said which house they lived @either 🚩 🤨, I bet they don't even live on the same street...the older lady said something like " I travelled all this way " when she was holding the plate of poisoned cookies 🍪 🧐.
@@gemstar7286 First to point that out-spot on!
One of the morals here: teach your dogs and children to never take food from strangers.
Everyone else is sleeping 😳 Flags?
I love your profile picture!
@@Irish_Georgia_Girl Thank you. Not my creation though. Yours is good too!
Come on, they are only human.
@@-svet-ka- Thanks... it's from Game of Thrones. I love all animals though... and cats are my favorite! Is that your kitty in the picture?
Hey everyone! Felicia here, director of The Buyers. Loved seeing your reactions-feel free to ask any questions to me and our screenwriter, Sam. Big thanks to Omeleto for featuring our short, and thank you for watching it!
Felicia! Thank you and your team for sharing your creation with us, and congratulations on finishing a project.
1) Was it mean to be comedic?
2) Are you planning on fleshing out the story more if you find funding?
@@eugenetswong Humor and levity were a big part of the storytelling process and early conversations around the idea. And if the opportunity arises to make a feature, we'll definitely have more room and breadth to explore the larger frame of the story beyond the landscape of a short film. Thank you so much for watching!
@@SamWilsonFilm Sam, thanks for answering. The Omeleto comment section loves to interact with the teams that create the films.
I'm glad that you pointed out the interest in comedy. At first, I was really relaxed about various behaviours in the story, because it did have a bit of a comedic vibe to it. I think that the outcome confused a lot of us, because of how quick it turned dark.
I wish that there was more consistent funding for taking it to longer to longer formats. It makes me frustrated when I realize that most of these films won't get the star treatment.
@@eugenetswong Echoing Sam’s thoughts-yes, we were definitely intentional about blending levity with a sense of unease. I’ve really enjoyed seeing festival audiences feel safe to laugh while also sensing the underlying tension. As for expanding it, we’re definitely interested-there’s so much more to uncover. Great questions and thank you for watching!
it felt a little rushed tbh. Ramping up the tension would make it more Hitchcock and less The Purge like.
We actually outbid over 30 offers, and without a heartfelt letter. I may never have another good sleep in this house again.😳
😂😂😂
We’re coming for you 😈
Ironically, I’m moving into my first home today & this appeared on my recommended lol
Congrats on your new house! 🎉
Hi Neigbour evil laugh 😂. JK congrats.
@@syed3589 🤣❤️
Congratulations, I'm looking to move as well... how are the neighbors 😅
@@dezaraepalmer7912 my neighbors here are wonderfully great. Very kind, compassionate, and helpful. I lived in our last house for a little over 11 years, and the neighbors were very unk to say the least. Use their dogs as weapons and gave them commands to come after me and my kids all the time. Along with a bunch of other things. And the house I lived in before that was 14 years of hell with weird neighbors who have “parties with kids“. The chief of police got busted a few years ago. Guess what he was caught with? So I feel very grateful for where we ended up. We are very blessed in the universe finally made this old lady smile.
Wow! This need a part 2! Great suspense! 💜💜💜💜💜
The houses in my neighborhood have tripled in value over the last three years and the house next door did sell to investors for about 20% over asking. There used to be the nicest woman living there and now, we're concerned that it's being turned into an Air B&B. I can see someone losing it over a bidding war, in this town. Great video!
Interesting twists, worthy of some discussion.
3:50 Who runs water over a bleeding wound? It’s the opposite of letting it clot.
Things went a little south there, huh?
And its over. I think it should have a little more
Yeah the ending was too abrupt for my liking 🙄.
I knew those cookies were poisoned from the get-go! I also knew she was screwed when telling them she was alone.
This was ok but could've used a little extra length to build more suspense.
So many great films on here. That was one of the more scary ones 😢
Spectacular. Ida leaped to Adriana's aid. I've encountered rancid PoS neighbors like that in the past! Flawless writing and directing by Felicia Manning - as too the cinematography and of course the performance of actor Adrianna. 👏🏻👏🏻
What a stunningly unlikable lead. Not a reason to care about her moving troubles. She is SO self centered!
How exactly?
I'll give the character a pass. She had to carry the show with her monolog.
Yeah, I stopped paying attention to her, when she wasn't interacting with the neighbours.
Similar true story happened a few years ago when a family moved into a home that someone else wanted. Don't remember where but the lady stalked, harassed, and made their lives hell until she was caught. P.S. Was a good story till the ending. Makes me wish I hadn't watched. JMO.
The Killers had a point.People like the new homeowners ugh!
Yooo that took a turn.
exactly
scary!
OMG! This was Really Good. God I prey the little ones will be ok? Let's make a part 2 to see the outcome? Cheers!
Omg ❤❤❤ that ending
I was speaking to my best friend about what he bought me at trader Joe's. My Hebrew name Jacova is the female form of Jacob. My best friend calls me Jack for short..
Nice work.
The neighborhood from hell!
Don't like it
It was too short for my taste...
Yeah, I wished that they built up the tension more, instead of just jumping to violence.
I thought that it was a comedy, at first.
@@eugenetswongomeleto comedy is another channel.
Damnnn.
I figured it was that they wanted the house.
Great film! Loved it! 😍
Love these short boosts
I really liked it. Good job !
So what happened? Hate endings like this!!!
The people knocked at door want the house.
This is something we may faced sometimes! They probably did the same to the previous owner that’s why they sold the house!! Soon probably another “House for Sale by Owner” sign! 😅
idk. Gotta think about it. Given the times, who's meant to be the hero and who are the villains? "Eat the rich" and all that. Does it matter they poisoned children these days? Does that still make them the bad guys? To me, of course, but it's not so clear cut to others anymore. It's interesting there are those who will watch this and think the wealthy family had it coming. On a more simple note, it is very pretty. Nice work, Jesse Aragon.
Hiiiiii!
Hey! Get out..
Really, cliffhanger?
How’d that work out for ya, huh?