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Two Distant Strangers Tells the Tale By Ca ro l Bada r ac co Padge t t
nominated Best Live Ac- tion Short Film Two Distant Strangers, written and directed by Emmy winner Travon Free ( The Daily Show on Com- edy Central), co-directed by Martin Desmond Roe of LA’s Dirty Robber Productions (Buzkashi Boys, Kobe Bry- ant’s Muse), and executive produced by Shaun “Diddy” Combs. The film stars Brooklyn rapper Joey Bada$$ in the lead role of New York-based cartoonist Carter James, a young black man who wakes up in the apartment of a beautiful young woman, Perri, played by Zaria, after a night out on the town. Carter’s first concern upon awakening is simply getting back home to take care of Jeter, his dog. After easy dialogue is shared and sparks fly between Carter and Perri as they agree to meet up again, the film begins to subtly shift. Carter steps out of the apartment building onto the sidewalk as the opening piano crescendo and vocals in Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is builds up. He lets a businesswoman pass by before crossing the sidewalk, resting his backpack atop an empty bike rack, fishing out a cigarette, and accidentally colliding with a passerby
what he does or how hard he tries. His fate is already sealed, just the way it is. In futility, each time he leaves to go home and feed his dog, he is murdered on the street in alternating methods matching the highly publicized killings of black men and women at the hands of law enforcement in America. And each time he is killed, he wakes up yet again in Perri’s bed, as if from a nightmare, only to rise and try again each new day. “It was very challenging to ask Joey to relive the pain and anguish of being murdered over and over again,” states director Martin Desmond Roe about the filming. “Almost more difficult was filming all of the times that Carter wakes up after being killed.” Roe is quick to note of his directorial role and collaboration alongside Free, “As a white man from the UK, this is, in many ways, not my story to tell. But it is very much Travon’s story to tell. And as his friend and collaborator it was honestly an honor to be part of examining this story with him.” At the start of the pandemic, the two friends’ main focus was a feature they’d had in development for several years. As Roe says, “We were actually trying to take advantage of the pandemic to get the script written for that film when George Floyd was killed.” After processing the shock of Floyd’s murder and participating in the protests that followed, Free realized he had a platform that many people do not in which to tell the story. In an interview with complex.com, Free shares, “I needed to say something about what I was feeling and what I believed a lot of people like me were feeling.” So he came to his friend with the idea for the short film. “It was so powerful and so immediate that I agreed to put away our feature and work on it right away,” Roe says. Even during the post-production and rough-cut phases, the film started making its mark and galvanizing support, such as Diddy’s. “He’s good friends with our star, Joey Bada$$, and he is deeply involved in the activist space, and when he saw the rough cut he joined the project,” Roe describes, adding, “His help has been incredible across the board, from notes helping us to shape the final film to making sure the film was seen in places we never could have reached without him.” Now, with a steady stream of viewers having pushed it into Netflix’s top 10, the 29-minute masterpiece has taken on a momentum all its own. Its ultimate message: Black Lives Matter. And Two Distant Strangers is the classic short film that will live to tell the tale.
I s it possible that a 29-minute film can encapsulate and illustrate the vivid intensity of racial injustice in America? The enduring systemic injustice that’s culminated in the modern-day killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. A 29-minute film can do that—and it’s proven out in 2021’s Oscar-
carrying a cup of coffee in the process. As he apologizes and the coffee drinker hurries off, Carter lights up, takes a drag, and dreamily surveys the busy New York morning. But the serene scene ends when Police Officer Merk, played by Andrew Howard, steps up to Carter with his opening line, “You got a problem here?” From that moment forward, Carter is stuck in a time loop he cannot avoid or push beyond—no matter
T H E G E O R G I A H O L L Y WO O D R E V I E W | S P R I N G 2 0 21 | 11
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