User Reviews

Six minutes, two characters and incredibly unsettling, Smile is a simple metaphor for depression told in an incredibly stunning way.

Anna (Konstantina Mantelos, who was in one of my favorite recent horror films, Anything for Jackson) is the only human we see in this movie -- we hear Ashley Laurence (Kristy from the Hellraiser films) as the voice of her mother -- and we're with her as she struggles to smile and then deals with Moros (Tyler Williams), who in Greek mythology is the living and personification of impending doom and a demon destroys mortals fated to die.

Director and writer Joanna Tsanis has made several shorts, but this is the first of her work that I've seen. She also has the benefit of great cinematography by Jason Han and magical special effects makeup by Carlos Henriques.

This short film is just 6 minutes long. We get to see only two characters, Anna and the monster creature at the end. While there isn't much happening in the film, i think that this film is more about the message than having a solid plot. The message for me it's obvious and that is dealing with depression and mental health issues. When the film starts we see Anna looking empty and sad, taking some pills probably her prescription for depression. We also hear the voice of Anna's mom who is Ashley Laurence from the Hellraiser movies, which is awesome.

Anna's mom is begging for Anna to talk to her and Anna prefers not to, she prefers her isolation. The monster obviously represents people who don't really understand mental illness and how to deal with people who suffer from mental illness. They try to force you to smile, to be ''more positive'', ''more social'' etc. So in the end we see the monster forcing Anna to smile in a gruesome way. I love how simple and how powerful this short film is, my rating is 8/10.