Pendulum   Starring: Lauren Cooney and Scott Michael Wagstaff Director: Lauren Cooney Gallivant Film Certificate: TBC Running time: 20 mins Opens 28 March 2019

It has been twenty years since a gravitational tear was discovered at the edge of our solar system. Unable to change the fate of the world, a whole generation has grown up knowing that they will die in their twenties, and for Cerys, Gwylim and the rest of the planet that time is now…

Pendulum (2017. 20 min) is a science fiction short film, written, directed and starring Lauren Cooney.

With time running out Cerys and Gwylim (Scott Michael Wagstaff) take off for a spiritual retreat run by Derryk (Tom Sawyer). It’s not really explained how they decided to go there or what they expected to find, but they do not find the enlightenment they sought.

It's often true that those who purport to have all the answers and to have achieved enlightenment are usually the last people you should listen to. This turns out to be just as true for Derryk, who is using his position of trust to drug the community into compliance. Escaping from the camp Cerys and Gwylim reconnect, but an angry Derryk is hot on their heels and he wants revenge.

The film seems to say that even with the end of the world literally in sight some humans will revert to their animalistic violent natures, while some will find serenity even in the beauty of the earth’s destruction. The end sequence is wonderfully understated as the sky fills with colour before the film fades to black.

As a personal project made on a minimum budget Pendulum’s story of spiritual enlightenment is only let down by its brevity, meaning that there is only a loose feeling of place or character. It’s the sort of film which would sit very comfortably under the DUST umbrella.

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Charles Packer