Response to 'The Ellington Kid' by Dan Sully

In 2012, Dan Sully directed a social realist short film; 'The Ellington Kid'. The film is set in a kebab shop in London, where a teenage boy is telling his friend the story of 'the Ellington kid', a boy who was stabbed by a gang and took cover by hiding in the very kebab shop they are sitting in. Then the film takes an interesting twist, ending on an ambiguous note which keeps the viewer thinking after the credits have rolled.

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The film's tone is overall comedic, using snappy editing to keep the pace fast, and a single narrator on top of the action. This is not what you'd expect from a social realist film, as it does not focus on one particular character and doesn't portray it's social issue in a realistic and often upsetting way; Sully instead opts to use comedy to deal with the relevant issue of knife crime in London. I think, to an extent this is effective, as it does not shy away from the reality and impact of this issue on people's lives. However, I think that, unlike the other films I have reviewed on this blog, the fact that ‘The Ellington Kid’ is a short film actually hinders it’s impact on a viewer as I think they would benefit from a more complex narrative, and I feel that the 'Ellington kid's’ story would be more effective if the characters were explored more in depth, so the viewer can express sympathy towards him.

Overall, I felt the film was simple and didn't establish it's characters' personalities as well as other shorts have; perhaps it would have been better to focus on a single character rather than a small group, but I thought it was interesting how Sully stepped outside the boundaries of normal social realist films and used comedy as a new way to explore a serious issue.

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