An Evening’s Trail is a film about grief and its management. The complexity of such feelings always gives a filmmaker the opportunity to discover emotions through the lens. Grief is such a heavy but commonly understood and universal situation. This is of extreme importance because it allows the artist and the viewer to explore their own feelings and limitations regarding the situation. If someone presents such situations in extremist ways, intense acting and a very complicated plot, there is always the risk of losing the meaning. In only one scene of the movie I dare to say I find such exaggerations, where the lead actor cries with music in the background.

The film starts for me in a promising way, making me think that we will see a film that shows complexity through simplicity. The outcome would be even stronger if we had more silent shots with more emphasis on the frames and their set up.

The performance of the protagonist, a father who lost his son, is indubitably cinematic. Through his taxi he is experiencing the indifference of others to his pain and slowly realizes how hard the subjective take on life can be. An Evening's Trail forces us to understand the cruelty that lies below the different points of view. Tomas and his dog, Daphne, wander around the city in the search of a client. What Tomas really needs to find is someone to listen to the suffering of an outcast taxi driver.


Tomas and Daphne.

Pranav Kumar Radharkrishnan directed a remarkable film, considering it is always a low budget student film. It may not have a very consistent directing style but it has a consistent aesthetic which is for sure the first step for someone in order to create a distinctive artistic style in their work.

I truly find the relationship between a lonely human being and his dog adorable. It is a loving relief in the darkness we experience by watching a man wandering all alone in the search of meaning. It may be a classic symbolism and not something we haven't seen before but I find it consulting. The anxiety that is created about the dog is, for me, a hit below the belt. It is unnecessarily sad and it does not offer anything to the exploration of the main character. Maybe in a feature film this turn of events would be interesting, but I believe there is already enough pain for such a short movie.

As an ending comment, I would like to compliment the lighting and generally the cinematography of the film. It is truly very pleasant to watch.

E.Vlachou, MA
Film Critic