Short films are pretty great. There are plenty of examples of when short films get made into feature-length movies too. Some of the best ones I’ve seen are Cargo and District 9. Even massive fan favorites were once a tiny short film like The Evil Dead, which came from a short called Within the Woods. This film short about obsession is called Jones. As in Jonesing for a drink. How many are too many?
Every so often I receive requests from filmmakers to watch their latest projects. Firstly, I must admit, I am pretty lucky with what I’ve received so far. Just this week I got word from a favorite indie director of mine, Carl Sundstrom, that one of his short films Safe Haven had made the official selection for an online film festival. Other shorts, like The Tribek Technique and the Horror House TV Pilot, gave me some well-needed comic relief.
Marzy Hart
Marzy Hart is another filmmaker who has been busily forging her career. Between starring in tonnes of movies and television, she also lends her talent to producing and writing. Her latest short film Jones had one win for best drama short at the Twister Alley International Film Festival and 5 nominations. Marzy’s production company is called Besties Make Movies. You can check out their Facebook Page to see what they’re all about.
Jones Short Film Summary
Jones is quite simply taken from the term ‘jonesing’ which is a clever play on words.
verb gerund or present participle: jonesing have a fixation on; be addicted to. "Palmer was jonesing for some coke again"
The short film ‘Jones’ is about Hart’s journey with alcoholism. For me, the film came across more like an advertisement you’d see in high school. You know the ones they play you to highlight the dangers of things most young adults do?
The theme for this is alcoholism. You are specifically aimed toward social drinking and what to do when you reach a point where it affects your life. For example, the point where you’re passing out in alleyways and other drunk people steal your bike. Or when you try to stop drinking but see other people drinking causes you to daydream about reaching over and taking their beer right out of their hands. Although these are just two examples touched on in the film, they are managed with an air of slight comedy. And it’s not all that funny I guess.
It Works If You Work It
The short film itself is well filmed. Scenes are lit to give off an ominous shadow of just how deep Jones is in her obsession with the bottle. Almost all the triggers and consequences of what happens for someone suffering from this disease manage to be touched in 8 minutes-thirty-five-second run-time.
There are some great uses of dreams like sequences to show what’s on Jone’s mind as she goes about her transformation. While it wasn’t as hard-hitting as it could have been, it may very well hit home for some.
Director Statement For Jones— An Award-Winning Short Film
A tiny drag of a cigarette. The occasional stoned night staring up at the stars. Getting drunk on wine and getting silly with our friends. Vices. Guilty pleasures.
For many of us, casual indulgences are things that make life a little exciting, something to elevate the conscious or disrupt the ordinary. But for some people, little vices have a way of permeating deep into their lives to become full-blown addictions.
Jones is about a woman who, when she is inebriated feels blithe and sexually liberated. It also leaves her alone in alleyways, unable to remember the night before. But the decision to stop drinking is just the beginning of an addict’s journey. It’s an important step but it is the start of a life long process to forget the carefreeness at the bottom of a bottle and the loneliness that can overwhelm an alone and sober brain.
Using dreamlike storytelling we show the grit and drive in one woman’s life to find pleasures outside of alcohol and how she must keep running away from the inner demons that threaten to drown her.
Marzy Hart
