Review: Sedona International Film Festival Features FOR SALE: BABY SHOES, NEVER WORN

There are some yard sales, you never want to have. Especially if you're a married couple that's lost a baby.

FOR SALE: BABY SHOES, NEVER WORN is a poignant one-minute film that propels you into the grief of two people who are letting go of the toys and paraphernalia that might have adorned the room of a baby that died too soon. (The short film is one of the features at this year's Sedona International Film Festival.)

Behold a tearful woman alone (Amy Shiels) at a table flanked by an array of dolls, gripping a powder blue blankie. Her forlorn husband (Asher Grodman), unboxing toys across the yard, preparing for those will purchase them at the price of a lullaby. It takes but one trigger ~ the opening of a box of Cat & Jack sneakers ~ for the floodgate of tears to shed. Two people left to themselves and bound by their wedding bands.

For the full paragraph that it has taken to summarize this film, six words and one minute ~ and two expressive actors ~ are really all that is necessary to tell the story in full.

Therein lies the brilliant accomplishment of co-directors Dmitry Milkin and Ryan Turner and cinematographer Will Turner ~ to capture the intensity of the moment and the emotions with purity of vision.

It is worth noting that the film adopts the title of what has been called the saddest short story ever told, as written by Ernest Hemingway. Legend has it that Hemingway wrote the tale and won a bet on a dare that he couldn't create an entire story in six words. Milkin and Turner didn't need a bet to follow suit and to demonstrate the power and elegance of brevity.

Photo credit to Will Turner

Sedona International Film Festival ~ https://sedonafilmfestival.com/ ~ 928-282-1177

Saturday, February 23rd through Sunday, March 3rd

Purchase passes at https://sedonafilmfestival.org/purchase-passes/

Multiple venues: Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. Highway 89A; Harkins Theatres, 2081 W. Highway 89A; Sedona Performing Arts Center, 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road

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