HUSH is the second short film from Joseph McGovern, and like ALL OVER AGAIN it involves one’s dreams and desires. However, his debut feature was about the dreams you need to try to live out. This is about the ones you should keep hidden.

Jeremy (Anthony Scanish) seems to have a great life, nice house, good job, loving wife (Kristin Ann Teporelli THE RED SUIT), etc. There’s just one problem, he’s obsessed with his best friend’s wife Suzanna (Melissa Damas). And he’s not coping very well. This is a subject we can all relate to, we’ve all fallen for somebody we couldn’t be with and probably shouldn’t even think of being with. Most of us just do some wishing, hurting and get over it. But Jeremy can’t seem to do that and we watch as everything unfolds and falls apart.

One major problem with films dealing with this plot is coming up with dialogue that doesn’t sound like trite, cliched outtakes from soap operas. McGovern neatly sidesteps this by avoiding dialogue completely. It’s a risky move but it works here. The visuals tell a clear story that’s easy to follow. The scenes depicting Jeremy’s fantasies are filmed with stylized red lighting. An appropriate choice given the color’s association with both passion and danger.

The acting has to be good to sell a film like this, and it is. Melissa Damas deserve special praise for having to play multiple versions of her character. The real Suzanna and the one in Jeremy’s fantasies. She makes the differences between the versions very clear which does the same for the lines between reality and fantasy.

A very different film in style and tone from his debut film, HUSH shows that McGovern has the confidence to take risks and the skill to carry it off.