Last week, I shared Craft Truck’s interview with Gordon Willis. One of Willis’ core tenets is “simplicity” and “The Awareness” is powerful in it’s use of this principle.

The core idea is very simple, but not simplistic. The cinematography establishes a brooding, contemplative tone that carries through the film’s 17:37 run time. Again, the cinematography is simple without being simplistic. The writing hits every beat with no wasted words or scenes, but it does not feel stripped down. The performances are outstanding. Only one actor seems to push his role a little too far.

The only weakness that I saw was the one VFX scene which, while short and well-masked, is pretty clearly stock footage.

With an indie feature and a short on my plate in 2014, “The Awareness” is both inspirational and aspirational.