Movie Short Review: ‘By Blood’

Review by James Lindorf

Guillaume Enard and Jonathan Delerue’s medieval tale By Blood, or Par la Sang in its native French, focuses on Mort-Lieu, an old man haunted by his past. By Blood recently screened at Hollyshorts Film Festival, and will continue the festival circuit with stops at Action on Film in Las Vegas this week, New Renaissance Film Festival on August 23rd and Toronto Independent Film Festival in September. The short film stars Jonas Bloquet (The Nun), Anne Charrier (Prêtes à tout) and Pascal Greggory (La Vie En Rose).

Born the bastard son of an unnamed noble in the south of France, Mort-Lieu won his land with brutality, determination and the loyalty of his followers. Now, as illness sets in and he nears the end of his life, a mysterious knight appears on the cliffs overlooking his castle. The knight remains unmoving and unspeaking in a silent invitation to battle. Mort-Lieu believes the stranger to be Death itself, coming to claim him, leaving the old warlord no choice but to confront his legacy.

This short film has fatherhood at its emotional center, asking what is the love of your family if you don’t have the power you crave, and what is the power worth if you don’t have the love of your family? The unclaimed son of a nobleman, Mort-Lieu spent his life fighting to remove the stigma that was placed on him at birth, looking to be recognized as a worthwhile man in his own right. Along the way, he made some of the same mistakes as his father and plenty of new ones. While fighting for what he felt he was owed, he neglected his own son, Hargrold, who idolizes his father and thirsts for the opportunity to prove himself and earn his father’s praise. Hargrold wants to battle the unknown knight, and possibly battle Death itself, in the name of his father.

The cinematography of the film is well done; however, it could just be hard to make a castle on the cliffs of the Rhone in Southern France look bad. The acting is well done. You believe their anger and their fear when it comes to the unknown knight, but I wish the family had more intimate interactions. The sword fighting choreography, while not overly complicated, was well done and entertaining.

The film itself left me wanting more. The script left the actors hanging with very little support. It was very light on dialogue, which means the audience is forced to do the heavy lifting from very few interactions. We are given the gist of the story, but it ends there. Maybe they created the film to encourage a dialogue about fathers and legacies, in which case I think they failed. Overall it is a well-produced film with good acting, was worth the 20-minute runtime, but ultimately needed another set of eyes on the script.