The Fly - short film

For part of our Film Studies coursework, we have to study a series of short films. One of these short films is 'The Fly' (2013), written and directed by Olly Williams, which is a black comedy following a getaway driver, played by Jack Doolan, who is gradually driven to breaking point by a fly. Before watching the film, we watched the music video for 'Blue Song' by Mint Royale along with clips from the film 'Baby Driver', both of which follow getaway drivers.

In terms of character, the film is very simple: it focuses around one character who is never shown saying any dialogue and who is never explicitly developed or given any back story. This is much simpler than Baby Driver which develops several different characters, including Baby who is given a full back story, motives, goals and flaws. The character does, however  All that we learn about him is implied from what we see; we imagine that he is inexperienced and has had problems in his life, meaning that the fly is the last straw, bringing him to his breaking point. The film has a sort of mini-three act structure and the character has a very clear arc as his anger escalates, going from nervous to mad over the 7 minute course of the film. It has a similar structure, in a way, to a feature film, with setups, payoffs and turning points, but on a much smaller scale. While the antagonists in Baby Driver include an experienced criminal boss and a crazy bank robber, the antagonist in 'The Fly' is, as the title says, a fly.

I can't say that I found the film especially funny or memorable, but liked the simplicity of the concept and execution. I thought that it was well directed and acted and that Williams has definite potential as a film director.