“You’re Cut,” directed by Samuel Weaver

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San Diego Short Film Festival

Drama

TRT 2:30

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Ken (Christopher Nelson) is cut from his pro football team by the GM (Lee Moran). That’s not a spoiler, as the title is the story.

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That’s a short description, but at just over two minutes there’s not a lot else going on with the plot. That means everything else has to carry the weight of the film, and Weaver and his team succeed here. The film is ably pieced together and lean. There’s nothing wasted here. Given the miniscule production budget, Weaver has definitely made the most of the location, the editing and the music. This is efficient filmmaking at its finest.

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Nelson and Moran are up to the task here as well. Nelson carries the disappointment on his face really well, and there’s enough going on behind his eyes that you genuinely don’t know how he’s going to react to the bad news. That’s not because you’ve just met him and don’t know him – it’s because Nelson imbues the tiny role with enough of Ken’s determination and gumption to be totally believable in the part.

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The opening training montage establishes that Ken has heart, and over the years the Sports Industrial Complex has convinced us that heart is 90% of what players need to succeed. Moran’s unnamed GM, contrastingly, has absolutely no heart and doesn’t even need a name since he’s basically a cog in a large, money-driven machine. The final reveal shows that he can’t be trusted in any of the basics of human, humane interaction.

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This is the polar opposite of “Ted Lasso.” We’ve become accustomed to the propaganda of professional sports, and “You’re Cut” is a welcome gut punch.