“Detective Kiwi,” directed by Stephen Sorrentino

San Diego Short Film Festival

Genre: Drama

Total Run Time 11:06

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Mia (Stephanie Cha) has recently lost her brother Eric (Jonathan P. Chen, who is also the film’s writer). As she works through the grief, she digs through a box of his childhood possessions and comes across a set of walkie talkies that briefly allow her to talk to Eric as he waits for the afterlife to begin.

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The “Dead Person Conversation” is a well-worn narrative path (it has its own entry at TVTropes.org), and it is to Chen’s credit that he manages to avoid the maudlin, treacly take that dominates the genre. The “carpe diem” feelings that Eric ultimately expresses are also extremely familiar, but fortunately read as genuine when a lesser writer would have made them come across as perfunctory.

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The conversation at the heart of “Detective Kiwi” plays out like a remembrance-fueled attempt by Mia to work through denial, the first stage of grief – which it basically is. Take away the magical MacGuffin and this story is remarkably realistic take on what goes through one’s mind when dealing with the passing of a loved one. Cha and Chen both bring the right emotions to play here throughout, with Mia’s ever-present confusion and sadness and Chen’s wistfulness and awe.

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Sorrentino employs considerable flair in telling this story, including gorgeous drone footage, a clever mirror scene and semi-surreal imagery as Eric explains his new perspective. He manages to convey Eric’s current distance from Mia by keeping her out of focus during an amazing profile shot of Eric as he waits at a train station, punctuated by flashbacks of the two as children who were incredibly close.

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Sorrentino once again wears multiple hats for this film, much like in his other reviewed film “Amends of the Father.” In addition to direction, he wrote this film’s score – which works incredibly well with what he has put in front of the camera. Once the central conversation kicks in, the music subtly accentuates the drama without ever stepping on it.

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This will never be an easy-going subject for a film, but everyone involved in “Detective Kiwi” has gone out of their way to make it as accessible and heartfelt as it can be.