A2 media film magazine review

1. Reviews
78. British FilmMonthly
Trapped
Month2017
DirectedBy GraceJohansson
U.K. Certificate:12. 5 mins.
British writer – director Grace
Johansson’s firstshortfilm
Trapped explores the gritty
issueof Agoraphobia and the
effect ithas on teenaged
Mackenzie, the protagonist of
the story. Stylistically,it’s
difficultto make comparisons
with other shortfilms about
the subjectas so many of
them aremuch more
experimental… Johansson opts
for a realismcloser to
naturalism.Trapped is a more
faithful,if cautious
interpretation of mental illness
and explores with real
sensitivity howfamily issues
can realign the problem of
leavingyour own home.
Havingonly two castmembers
to focus on allows Johansson
to hone in on what Mackenzie
and Carolinearefeeling and by
turn puts the audienceon a
more directpath to
emphathisingwith the
characters as they try to find
their way again. Johansson
makes the challengeof a zero
budget work to her advantage
and creates the type of gritty
realismcharacteristic of the
genre that is made famous by
directors such as Ken Loach,
Andrea Arnold and Mike Leigh.
The audience become
enthralled by the story of
Mackenzie through their need
to know what is goingon with
her and what will be the
outcome of her phobia in the
end. The struggle is evident
within Mackenzie’s attitude
and the factthat she does not
want to leave and that she is
afraid butshe overcomes her
fear and even helps another
younger girl.Amy Benton’s
performance as Mackenzie is
captivatingand brings emotion
to an already hard hitting
issue.The minimalistic set
decoration of the home means
that there is not much to
distractus from Carolineand
Mackenzie, this works in
Johansson’s advantageduring
the making of her film.The
Miseen Scene gives the
audiencea look into the
personality of Mackenzie by
letting us see what personal
touches she would add,this
allows us to see what she is
likewithout havingthe words
from her mouth. The Union
Jack Draught stopper is
cleverly used as a prop to
symbolisethe weight of
Mackenzie’s strugglewith her
condition.Johansson’s short
filmis in some ways similar to
her previous work
The Woman who was never
Seen as the themes and issues
both centre around fear and
Agoraphobia,this gives the
audiencesomething familiar
that they can relateto if they
have seen Johansson’s
previous work and motivates
them to watch more, there has
been a progression into the
theme of Hope in Trapped
from Johansson’s previous
work as now the Protagonist
has a way to cureher
Agoraphobia.The use of
untrained actors in Trapped is
contributes to the tone and
styleof the film,with the
dialoguebecoming more
stuttered and realisticthan it
would have been if the actor
had been trained. In the future
we hope to continue seeing
Grace Johansson progress and
continue to show her filmskills
Credits:
Producer Assistant Director
GraceJohansson Gosta Johansson
Written By Production Studios
GraceJohansson Johansson Films
PhotographyBy Heaven Productions
GraceJohansson Cast
Edited By Amy Benton
GraceJohansson SophieBenton
Synopsis:
A modern, average house on the
outskirts of a small,common looking
London city.Mackenzie, a teenage
girl,sits alonestrugglingto cope with
her Agoraphobia.She receives a
number of voicemails aboutan
urgent issuethat forces her to face
her fears and befriend a lostchild
named Caroline,who’s lookingfor her
mother, and they face their fears
together.