A Little Glass of Rum (2022) Review
A Little Glass of Rum is a twenty-minute short directed by Carah Chafin who has directed one other short, Taking the Edge Off and performed various roles on several other productions including special effects work on Massacre Academy. The script, as well as cinematography, is by Lauren Keller (Symbiotix, Dear Jonah).
The film opens strongly with a few scenes showing Stan (Stuart Ford, Home Theater, Mina) with his wife (Jennifer Louise, Spirit Animal, From Hell and Back) and son (Lucas Morris-Steele) as sappy music plays. That’s followed by their murder while he’s at work as a guard at the local prison. All of this is accomplished within two and a half minutes and sets the stage for what’s to come.
Three years later their killer (Nick Mitchell) has been caught and is about to be executed. And along with his final meal he’s getting a visit from Stan. “I want this, and so does he.” he tells the warden (Kurt Shaw, Maladjusted) as he’s led into the interrogation room. It’s this meeting that forms the rest of the film.
I’m of two minds about A Little Glass of Rum. On the one hand, it’s a very well-made film, especially for a student film. The dialogue between Stan and Ken is well-written and quite effective. And the scenes depicting the murders are quite harrowing without being overly graphic.
On the other hand, the entire idea seems unlikely, even in 1971 when this is set, for reasons that should be obvious to just about anyone. And it does come to a conclusion you’ll see coming, even if it takes an interesting route to get there. That also applies to the connection between the two, even if some of the film’s own materials didn’t mention it it wouldn’t be a great surprise.
The end result is that A Little Glass of Rum is a good film with a flawed concept. There’s enough talent in front of and behind the camera to make it not just work but stand out. The film is currently on the festival circuit, you can check its Facebook page for announcements of where and when it will be screening.