Two Distant Strangers Review

This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write movie reviews consistently.

I would love to have respectful discussions about people's potentially polarizing opinions on this short because let me get this out of the way now, I am a white, cisgender, straight male. I'm not going to lie about how I felt about a film on the first watch, but I also want to be open to discussing why it may be a problematic watch in general. If I get off balance in any way with my cluelessness here, I would love to have a respectful discussion about it because I think discussions like that are important. However, I can't lie about what I thought about this short film on the first watch. So, what did I think?

Watch. Two. Distant. Strangers. I don't care when you do it, just watch it. It's on Netflix right now, and it's a half-hour short film that uses a concept that I would argue is sometimes seen as overdone and twists it in a way that makes it socially relevant for our times. Yes, the racial parallels to real-life Black deaths are obvious and not subtle at all, but in my opinion, that's the point this film is trying to get across. The subtlety doesn't lie in the message for this film, it lies in how the narrative EXECUTES that message. Through the narrative device of a time loop, the constant racial and societal struggles that Black people in this country have to go through are emphasized to demonstrate how many things it feels like Black people try to keep themselves safe and avoid conflict and how it never seems to work. Much like the main character of this film is stuck in a literal time loop, Black people have been stuck in a system for WAY too long that actively harms the image of and actions toward their race for situations that should NOT have escalated as far as they have. It's the narrative device that supplies the subtlety of this message, not the events of the plot or story itself. In every turn, Carter has to find a new way to escape this permanent hell he's living in because he simply wants to get home and at every turn, the situation keeps escalating unnecessarily despite his best efforts. That's the brilliance of this short to me -- it takes a very well-known narrative device and makes it topical.

I've also heard the complaints about the death scenes being borderline exploitative, and I guess I don't really see it that way. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand where that viewpoint is coming from because the deaths are often very brutal and very similar to real-life police-related deaths of American Blacks, but to me, even though the deaths were absolutely front and center, they never felt like they were simply there to exploit. They were there to emphasize the true scope of the problem involving police brutality in America, and it never felt to me like a situation was simply made up just to show a Black man dying over and over again.

I also cannot believe that Joey Bada$$ is in this film. I've heard one or two of his songs here and there and really enjoyed what I've heard, but my god, I had no idea the guy had acting chops, too. And you know what? Andrew Howard and Zaria Simone were really good in my opinion, too, and I'm standing by that assessment. The script, while it definitely can have cheesy one-liners at times, is still (again, in my opinion), constantly strong and doesn't just seem to focus on one side of the issue. It allows every main character in this film to have the say of their side of the problem at hand, and I genuinely think that can help with some really important discussions of racial tension in our country today.

Look, it's not like one film or short film or book or piece of art or even one revolutionary act is gonna completely solve the centuries of systematic abuse that Blacks have endured. That kind of issue takes a lot of work and a lot of effort from everyone to slowly weed a racially biased system out of existence. Say what you want about Two Distant Strangers, I will respect your opinion regardless of what you actually think about it, but I'll be damned if it doesn't at least get a discussion going, and while I'm genuinely rating this a five-star score because I personally loved this short as much as I did (it's probably easily gonna be amongst my favorites, if not my absolute favorite), I'm open to discussion. I'm open to hearing different sides. I'm open to a different perspective from someone else and I don't want anyone to be belittled or to belittle anyone else for their opinion. My basic philosophy on pretty much anything at this point is to respect human individuality. Respect the way they were born, respect the way they identify, respect their own personal opinions, and as long as they're not doing anything actively morally wrong, that individuality is not a bad thing. If you HATE this short for one reason or another, that is totally, totally fine. If you agree with me and you LOVE this short, that is totally, totally fine, too. Just don't belittle anyone for having a different opinion from you. Respectfully discuss, and even if someone is so out of boundaries with their moral compass that there's no way to reason with them, don't cause conflict just to cause conflict. Let it be or find a way to stand up against the system that can slowly get us to the better society that we all want. In my opinion, Two Distant Strangers is an absolutely incredible short, and if you agree or if you disagree, I would love to know why. Please discuss openly in the comments if you feel I'm uninformed about anything.

Letter Grade: A+