What does an unhappy family look like? This is the question that the shorts compilation “Release Me, Let Me Go” tries to answer. Turns out, unhappy families all look very different.

The first short titled “Ausencias” tells the story of a Mexican woman who loses her husband and son in a kidnapping incident. The film is narrated solely by the woman. She explains how she tries to cope and keep hope alive all while still caring for her only daughter.

Most of the visuals during the first short were either simple shots of the mother or a run down building. At the end, it changed to mostly shots of the woman’s daughter. It gave a sense of hope to the end of the film.

“Varicella,” the second short, takes place in St. Petersburg where two young sisters are enrolled in an arts academy. The pressure for perfection and improvement proves to be difficult for the girls, but they are able to find comfort with each other.

This was the short that I connected with the most. The relationship between the sisters both dancing at an academy took me back to the days when my sister and I used to spend hours at the dance studio together. The shots with a backdrop of white were some of my favorites in the film, providing an interesting visual to accompany the story.

The final short “32+4” is a personal story told by director Chan Hau Chun about her family and their issues. She uses her camera to film her parents and ask them about what went wrong in the past. The film is more of an observation with no true resolution.

Overall this was a very sad series of films. At the end of the third short, the director said that she didn’t know how to end the film before the screen went to the credits. When the showing finished, there just lingered in the air a sense of melancholy.

Somehow though before we left, I was able to get a sense of hope. When Chun was discussing her struggles with the film, wondering about whether she did the right thing using her family as subjects, people in the audience told her that her story was one that many people will appreciate seeing. Hearing people supporting her, connecting with her story even though she’s from another country made me very aware of the power that a film festival has on our world view.

If you feel emotionally prepared, this shorts series is an interesting look into the imperfections in families that we don’t normally get to see. It shares stories that need to be told.

_MOVE gives this film a 3.5 out of 5_