Utilizing themes from “The Purge” and “The Hunger Games” comes “The Sorting Room,” an independent short film written and directed by Ben Stahl. The film pits two men against each other in a locked room with but a table, two clocks, and a loaded pistol. They’ve arrived for the annual Sort—the government’s answer to overpopulation whereby one of the two must shoot himself (or the other?) with a gun on the table; the survivor must sign up for next year’s Sort. It’s an intriguing film, one that addresses overpopulation in a peculiar way. It was shot exclusively on an iPhone, showing once again the tools available to filmmakers who want to experiment against convention.
For a film with deeply rooted themes like this, six minutes may be a little too short; however the film still gets enough right to make it thoughtful and provoking. There are but three actors: Wesley Cianchette who plays ‘Man 1,’ Amanda Hayden who plays a mysterious woman, and David Nenner who plays ‘Man 2.’ Man 1 sits in the room and awaits the arrival of the second. We see the second—he waits outside in his car while we hear news bulletins detailing Earth’s overcrowding. Man 1 simple sends a text to what we assume to be his wife: “Whatever happens today,” he begins, “I’m sorry.”
Containing a film like this in one room was the right choice. The first thing we notice is that the visuals are clear and sharp, and the sound is audible and clear. Both can suffer on films completed solely on a smartphone, and it was nice to see that Stahl was able to pull off this balancing act. The two clocks are intriguing, signaling images of a chess game; though to be honest, the back and forth between the two men never reaches truly deep or profound heights—a cause, likely, of the film’s short length.
We learn some things about them. One was a war veteran who followed in his father’s footsteps. The other’s dad died in a war and detests the idea of following down this path. “The Sorting Room” plays off this for a while: the pride of the one contrasted with the anger of the other. The banter between the two of them resembles an airing of personal opinion more than it does a psychological chess game. It’s here that the rules of ‘The Sort’ are a little muddled. Who gets to decide who lives or dies? Is there a winner or a loser? Of course, we find this out in its offbeat ending which offers not concrete answers but befuddlement. But this is not a detriment. This is a philosophical film, meant to ask questions that may not have any answer.
The acting is good, as is the cinematography, impressive as the film’s IMDb page touts a budget of a mere $200. Cianchette seems to be the more powerful actor of the two, but this may be more of a script issue than a performance one. Playing off each other, we don’t get to learn much about the two characters’ psychology or what stakes each has in the room (there is a connection between the two, which won’t even be hinted at here). The back and forth between Man 1 and Man 2 is occasionally interspersed with blurred shots of the mysterious woman, who we at first see may be Man 1’s wife but quickly becomes something more.
The Sort itself has a curious angle, as a quick look at the film’s description purports that the yearly death of one of the two victims is exclusively male. Is “The Sorting Room” an anthem for feminism? Are the males chosen for execution due to their ability to reproduce or for another reason? We’re not to know; that’s not the kind of film “The Sorting Room” is. The film’s ambiguity is also helped by its somber, droning score, which we learn is also courtesy of director/writer Stahl.
“The Sorting Room” is a earnest attempt and an introspective production. With only an iPhone and a handful of actors Ben Stahl has produced a project that is thoughtful and dystopian. It’s biggest criticism lies in the surface-level psychology that but scratches the surface of what the film had to offer. Shorts are a difficult genre to undertake. “The Sorting Room” works at six minutes in length. However, adding about ten minutes or so, with more emphasis on each character’s stakes and desires, may have ultimately had a stronger impact.
