The Third Day

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Director: Francesco Longo
Writer(s): Francesco Longo

Year: 2018

Starring: Roberto Ramon

 

Synopsis:

A man return to his home. Here, he will be faced with a dark truth, the world has been struck by a terrible plague.

 

Review:

From the first second a powerful, deep sound emanates from the speakers demanding your immediate attention. This use of audio although somewhat generic nonetheless elicits the desired, effective response from the viewer as the short film comes into life with a man bursting into his flat, frantically searching for some unknown item.

 

A sudden realisation or perhaps resignation comes over him as his erratic moment shifts focus from something external to the internal as he scratches aggressively all over his body. It is here that THE THIRD DAY gives us the old newsreader exposition cliche, filling us in regarding the backstory, in this case an infectious disease, of which our man is clearly showing the symptoms of, and the result of it.

 

This way of delivering backstory and context is all-too common in short films under ten minutes, as often due to time restrictions they are forced into telling rather than showing the audience the necessary information, and as stated this is no different.

 

However in this case THE THIRD DAY felt more like a strong pre-title sequence for a film in the vein of 28 DAYS LATER or the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake. In fact I do hope that director Francesco Longo gets the opportunity (not to mention budget) to expand this narrative into a longer piece of work.

 

At a bit under four and a half minutes, THE THIRD DAY is a decent but all too short watch that benefits from effective audio and strong direction from the promising Francesco Long.