A group of individuals trapped in a room and faced with a decision of whether it’s better to stay or leave.

“Who isn’t going to die” is one of the most relevant lines you will hear in Parlour Games’ dialogue. Why? Because it’s real and honest; it’s every person’s final action.

The short film Parlour Games takes place in front of a vibrant red backdrop. Is it a room? My guess may be the same as yours. As five characters with different social background are presented immediately, a woman dressed in black, having also a deep black backdrop, doesn’t even greets them and drops the one and only twist that makes them wonder around for answers: one of them will never leave the room, one of them will die, and one of them will have their dream come true. What’ll happen to the other two characters? My guess may still be the same as yours. They’re never offered to choose a person to die or to leave the room; destiny will let them know the universe’s answer.

Parlour Games is a very interesting short film that leaves you with more doubts than the characters have in the plot. It has a hypnotizing aesthetic thanks to the bright red background in which the story unfolds; it forces you to keep your eyes glued. At times the direction seems to be taken from a Wes Anderson film in a large part of the short film but at the same time it helps to give you a panoramic view that can feel like you are enjoying a play.

All characters are well developed despite the short exposure time. Each member demonstrates their social role with their movements, postures, and even their diction. It seems that the writer created the profiles of each character to demonstrate their own wishes before letting them be portrayed.

Parlour Games doesn’t have one outcome, it has multiple outputs. In the end the spectator is free to tie up the loose ends for their best understanding, but it must be considered that it will not always be the same result. It even seems that the universal context of this piece to remind us we will all die regardless of the decisions we make or the roads we take because in the end all roads lead to Rome.

Parlour Games is a scarlet masterpiece. It’s the vivid example of how to make something enjoyable in a short lapse of time because… time is a precious thing and we must value it for we will not recover it.