It’s every parent’s living nightmare and global quandaries. What adds dimension to this film’s mysterious premise is the fact that it all takes place in broad daylight someone must have seen something, so who’s lying? Nevermind that children do tend to go wandering off on their own. Without knowing who the characters are, what they choose to project in the first ten seconds of being drawn into Eoin’s orbit, is up for good old fashioned subjective assessment. It’s a forgiving leniency often afforded to short film, but Gridlock genuinely doesn’t need to give away any more than it does (which is very little). It’s fair to assume everyone is a suspect without really having to delve into individual backstories or the exploration of motive. Like protagonist Eoin, we know nothing of the people around him it’s a lonely and vulnerable position to be in. There’s the creepy looking loner who refuses to unlock his door to a bunch of snarling strangers – it must be him? Even the man with a doll in the back of his car is called out – surely he would have led a little girl past all the other cars, in broad daylight, to his own without being seen? Look he’s put a doll on the passenger seat in full view! Who cares if it’s the same doll as Emma’s or not, pedantics ! At this point we don’t even care! The couple in the car behind, they’re the image of propriety didn’t see anyone come or go then there’s the invasive loud-mouthed lad who is quick to point fingers and lead much of Eoin’s (and ours to an extent) suspicions until he is accused of subverting attention from himself. When he returns to his car after investigating the source of the pile up, the little girl is not there. Through snippets of conversation with someone on the other end of the phone, we paint the picture of a protective father in Eoin, trapped in a battle of sorts with an estranged ex, Emma’s mother. Why that is, is never disclosed nor is it important, we just know that he’s in a hurry to get there. He’s just been on the phone to someone, looking for a place to drop his daughter. Her gruff and irritated father, Eoin – has no time to engage in conversation and tells her to play with her creepy broken doll. Little Emma, cute and slightly precocious, wonders out aloud when she’ll see her mother again. Indeed, despite its title and baseline premise, Gridlock moves at a pace that’s consistently engaging and packed with plenty of questions of who, how and why. It has all the machinations of CLUE? without any of the superfluous character breakdown, making which is both intriguing and chilling. But as panic takes hold among the other drivers, the search for a missing girl quickly descends into a frenzied witch-hunt, where no one is above suspicion. When Eoin’s young daughter Emma goes missing from their car, he forms a desperate search party to find her. Writer/Director: Ian Hunt Duff | Producer: Simon Doyle | C ast: Moe Dunford, Peter Coonan, Steve Wall and Amy de Bhrun.ĭuring a traffic jam on a narrow country road.
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