Excellent but underrated film

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Andrew is out on a date with Maria; alcohol appears to be aiding his progress, as she suggests they return to his place. Cockily throwing up an olive and catching it in his mouth, Andrew finds his luck turning when he starts to choke and, ultimately, dies. His angel Reginald tells him that unfortunately the decision was taken to let Andrew die early, since he really will never accomplish much with his life; Andrew disagrees with this and tries to bargain his way back to life – albeit primarily so he can seal the deal on his one night stand.There is a certain over-familiarity to the setup of this short film; a man dies and is instantly standing over his own body with his angel – it is not that this in and of itself makes the rest of the film play out as you expect, just that for me it sort of weakened it a little due to it having this feel. The short does do a lot to try to overcome this, with some nice detail (the tracksuits for example) but also a genuinely nice ending (helped perhaps by a great song over the credits – one I probably don't need to name given the title of the film), the problem is that, for the punch line to work, it needs the film to do what we expect it to do, with Andrew debating whether or not to turn his life around at that moment or not. This is done with a certain comic air that makes it amusing, but perhaps not as good as it could have been had it not had to play it a certain way for the film to work.The ending is satisfying in an amusing way, although I wonder if it was worth the rather muted and "change your life" tone throughout? Von Urtz is pretty likable in the lead, and I though he worked well with Di Paola, both of whom seemed natural and flirty together. I am not totally sure that Sinclair worked – he seemed too out of place and a bit too bland as a presence, which is a shame. Overall it is light and amusing, but ironically it has to play it a way that doesn't really engage or please, primarily so that the punch line works when it comes.