“Elsewhere” is Heartbreaking and Heartwarming

Brian Keane is a name you should know.  Elsewhere is his newest short film. 

Everyone mourns differently.  One of the many ways that this manifests is being closed-off to the world.  Specifically, this can take the form of disclosing the smallest amount of information possible in an attempt to hide one’s inner feelings.  The first paragraph of this review is an example of that.  So is the main character of Elsewhere, Roman, played by Michael Raver.

Elsewhere is a film about mourning.  Or, said with a more accurate synonym, coping with loss.  We never find out exactly who Roman is mourning, but the film does a great job of slowly rolling out details that make an emotional impact.  At first, the audience may be lulled into thinking this character is just generally depressed or cynical.  The revelation that someone has passed is never explicitly made, and the most information we get is that they left several pieces of property behind, but it’s all made crystal clear very soon just by Roman’s expressions.

The star of the show is Michael Raver, not just in the sense that he plays the main character, but also in the sense that his performance is show-stealing.  His ability to portray someone who is outwardly experiencing heavy emotions is impressive, but more astounding is his ability to play a character repressing his emotions.  The ability to find a balance between being reserved but also being affected is a difficult one to pull off.  Raver has prepared his voice, his face, and his body language in a way that even high-profile actors don’t always manage to do. 

The soundtrack and sound design of Elsewhere is soft and understated.  Rather than feeling like mere decoration, or simply emphasizing what is already apparent, the music and sounds of this film dig up what is hidden underneath: it reflects the form of muted despair that depression often takes.  The film is also beautifully shot, especially the bookending sequences of the introductory montage and the final moment between Roman and his partner Ben.  

Ben and Roman are a gay couple, and this does not seem to be incidental.  Keane shows the audience through the visual medium of film how marginalized people often live with emotions that they don’t feel can be adequately expressed in terms that people outside of their groups will fully understand.  Our unique internal experiences can often times be so alien to certain people that language cannot serve as an adequate mode of communication. This doesn’t just apply to LGBTQ+ people, but also to neurodivergent people, ethnic minorities, and more. 

But the title of this review doesn’t just say that the film is heartbreaking.  It is also heartwarming.  Because in Elsewhere, even if the issue that is causing Roman grief never fully resolves, and even if Roman has to accept what he doesn’t want to, in the end he does accept what has happened and creates space for other important things.  It doesn’t happen all at once, in fact it takes a very long time, and it never negates the importance of the deceased to Roman, but in the end Roman does find a way to reestablish his emotional connection with the people who are still here. The last shot is a very powerful representation of that.

Elsewhere is less than fourteen minutes long, but it delivers a more emotional impact than most feature-length films.  Despite being so quiet, it is almost screaming for further analysis.  Kearne and Raver and everyone else who contributed to this film have quite the accomplishment, and it should be recognized.