Like any other movies about young characters in their twenties, SCRATCH explores the curiosity and the intricacies of personal boundaries between two young strangers. Starring Norwegian's own Viktoria Winge and UK's Luke Treadaway, this is a story about the secrets we hide from the world and those who intrusively try to uncover them.
Lena (Winge) has been struggling to put together a photography project for a student art exhibit. For awhile, she's been following a young guy named Sol (Treadaway) who she kept seeing around many artists of the London art scene at many art exhibits. Unsatisfied with the big photo prints she's made of the pictures she has taken of Sol from a distance, Lena obsession with the project compels her to get closer picture shots of Sol, which ultimately ends up getting her caught and confronted by Sol who unforgivingly sticks to following Lena while trying to figure out why she was following him and intrusively ends up invading her private life. As they spend time together there's a mutual attraction between the two which up close ends up blowing up in each other's faces.
This short film nicely paints a picture with great visuals to a superb written story. Along with some nice punk rock and slowcore tunes it just can't go wrong. Directed by Norwegian filmmaker/producer/casting director Jakob Rørvik, this short film shows great promise as a future filmmaker. The film is only about 35 minutes long that if it was longer it would only drag on the story. Still this film is long enough to be told in that time frame and is better for it.
As much as this is a story about the secrets we hide from the world and those who intrusively try to uncover them, this also about how we perceive other people from afar and who they turn up being up close. If you ever get a chance of watching this film, invite your friends to watch it with you. This is one of those cult classic shorts people will talk about and try to emulate. At least I think so. 8 out of 10.
