Feeling Through

We think of language as a spoken thing, but the fact is that it's always changing and adapting to circumstance. Mountain peoples have communicated using yodelling or whistling languages, sailors with Morse code, Ancient Chinese and Native American peoples using smoke. Today, for most people under 45 or so, it's text, and that's what we see in the opening scenes of this film, as teenager Tereek (Steven Prescod) contacts various friends in the hope of finding a place to stay for the night. He's hanging out with other young people with whom he doesn't seem willing to share the truth about his situation. They're having a good time but his edgy glances and moments of awkwardness reveal that he's preoccupied, his mind set on finding some kind of shelter.

Finally establishing a place to go, Tereek sets off walking, but on his way he comes across a deafblind man standing alone on a corner, in need of help. This is Artie (played by deafblind actor Robert Tarango), who is able to communicate by writing brief phrases on a large sheet of paper. Feeling unable to leave him alone, Tereek helps him to a bus stop. He's worried that the delay means he won't get to his friend's place in time, worried about the weight of responsibility, but Prescod lets us see the moment that the realisation strikes him: he only has to deal with this for one night. Artie has to deal with it all the time.

A simple story about the courage that is sometimes required to get through an ordinary day, this Oscar-nominated short packs a lot of ideas into its 19 minute runtime. It illustrates the way that desperate circumstances can provoke moral compromise, shows us Tereek's longing for the kind of confidence that the older man exhibits, and sets up a brief connection which touches on something unexpectedly deep. Tereek is smart, figuring out means of communicating without needing to be shown them, but shame about his predicament is preventing him from using that intelligence to help himself. Artie is resourceful but, though he hides it well, is dealing with emotional issues of his own.

People with sensory impairments often express frustration with the way they're used as metaphors in films. This one goes some way to making up for that by having a well drawn deafblind character, and by the depth of its storytelling. Both leads are impressive. There's a touching scene, reminiscent of one in Sound Of Metal, where Tereek briefly closes his eyes and covers his ears to blot out the rest of the world and finds not a renewed sense of vulnerability but a moment of peace.