Eve (Short Film)

Director: Natalie Portman
Screenplay by: Natalie Portman
Cast: Lauren Bacall, Olivia Thirlby, Ben Gazzara

Since we are already discussing Natalie Portman’s chances at the Best Actress Oscar, I thought we could take a sneak peek at Portman behind the camera with Eve, which she also wrote. In it, she tells the story of an encounter between  a grandmother (simply called Grandma, played by Bacall) and her granddaughter Kate (Thirlby), who’s coming to visit the day Grandma’s got a date with Joe (Gazzara).

At first glance, Eve may seem a short about nothing at all… a fleeting encounter between a woman and her relationship with her grandkid. There’s nothing happening other than awkward family talks, awkwardness between you and your grandma’s date. However, these weird moments are what tell you the story about these two related people that can’t really communicate with each other.

During the film, there’s a role reversal — Thirlby plays Kate as quiet, responsible and quite the adult. She’s visiting her grandmother to really talk, yet when we meet Grandma, she’s flustering. Preparing for her date like a teen, talking about Facebook and going through Kate’s purse for cigarettes.

Eve is a wonderful short and a really great insight into Portman’s qualities as a filmmaker. She uses the camera quite aptly, especially with those scenes when we have Thirlby and Bacall all by themselves against the mirror.

Plus, what a cast! You got Bacall and Gazzara — sadly a bit underused, considering the plot — but Portman’s picking Thirlby as her young lead, it’s quite brilliant. I believe she’s one of the most underrated young actresses working today.

Rating: ★★★¾☆ 

Buy the Wholphin No. 10 short film collection, which includes Eve.

Ghost Writer

Here. There. Everywhere. Punished soul that usually watches what nobody wants, but sometimes gets lucky.

2 Responses

  1. amy says:

    Yo, WTH~ $50USD for a collection of short films? And I’m telling you this as someone who actually liked I Love Sarah Jane (Wasikowska lurv xD), and I wouldn’t mind paying for Eve… but considering that if these short were available on iTunes, they’d be maybe $3USD each – so $33USD max price for the collection… don’t cha think?

    Plus, I need to pay for shipping? >,<

  2. ghost says:

    @amy, if you really think about it – yeah. But then again, no one else has the shorts… would you pay for something only they have?

    In any case, they should make the shorts available on their own at a smaller streaming fee. Maybe they would get more out of that.

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