Just One Drink may have been made in 2015, but it feels like a film from 2005, not least because its star – Barbara Nedeljakova – is the star of one of the biggest horrors of 2005, namely Hostel. She’s back to her old tricks in filmmaker Andrew de Burgh’s debut short film, which is – depending on your perspective – either a boon, or a shame. If you liked life in 2005 a hell of a lot, then this short film is a love letter to the more ordeal-orientated horror which was breaking out all over the place at that time. If you want more of a nuanced conclusion, or if you feel that the whole ‘tied to things’ motif has had its day, and had probably had its day a decade ago, then this may well affect how feel about this one. In any case, feel free to check it out: it’s available to view on YouTube.
The premise is that a pair of affable stoners called Eric and Steve like to while away the hours discussing strains of cannabis and pondering the evolution of mankind. Steve, however, gets a message from a mysterious and beautiful woman (Nedeljakova) who invites him to a New Year’s Party round at hers. He shares this news with his pal, and they both decide to head over there on the big night because, despite the fact that Steve has no idea who this woman actually is, she’s hot, and that makes the whole idea worth a punt.
When they get there, they’re all alone and, having parked their common sense at the door, they glug down a glass of alcohol each which is spiked with something that causes them to instantaneously lose consciousness. Upon waking – strapped to what looks like a surgical trolley and a chair apiece – it looks like Nedeljakova has plans to dispatch them both in a series of unpleasant ways. Bit of a pity for Eric, who is, sadly, mainly collateral damage; it’s Steve Tamara knows, and Steve she wants to get. But why?
The exposition given is a bit of a big ask as (look away now) it seems that our mild-mannered stoner Steve has been a bit of a brute in the past. His reasons (and look away now if you want to see for yourselves) are that the man in question – the man which links both of our main characters – was a collaborator with Stalin, which – even if we accept that we’re going back ten years at the time of writing – is a bit of a puzzler for the timeline, and the film itself can’t possibly be set any further back, surely – the use of tech points to an early 21st Century timeframe. But the film does at least try for an abrupt volte face and tries to reframe its lead character in an interesting way, and its notion of tit for tat has some potential, even if the pieces in play are a little surprising. There are no especially complex layers here, which is to be expected in a film with a very modest seventeen minute runtime, so it just does what it does, but it’s clear to see the beginnings of a more ambitious writing approach. Really, Just One Drink is an experiment and a calling card, as so many short films are, so see for yourself what you think and, hopefully, appreciate the effort made to recast a lead character in a more ambiguous light.