I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I opened up the e-mail offering the chance to review a less than three-minute short film, especially when said short film was called Puppy Love. With visions of a feel good family flick planted firmly in my brain, I was instead pleasantly surprised to see an intelligent, insightful and even challenging film from writer/director Graeme Willetts that manages to leave its mark and keep sloshing around in your psyche' despite the inevitable challenges of telling anything resembling a complete story in the span of three minutes. 

Somehow, it happens. 

Puppy Love is a dark, extremely dark comedy for which you may very well find yourself chuckling guiltily as the story unfolds. Without giving too much, or anything, away, Puppy Love starts off in one direction and veers sharply into the land of an almost psychosocial thriller with a humorous twist that is as biting as it is, well, funny. 

Russell Biles and Paul Holbrook are strong in the leading roles, Biles serving up a more menacing portrait of a man and his online activities while Holbrook deliciously brings to life the story's abrupt yet effective twist. Sam Morgan Moore's lensing is both creepy yet energized, while Willetts's direction is paced quite nicely and avoids giving away too much too soon. 

Puppy Love is winding down its festival run having had quite a bit of success on the festival circuit with screenings in such festivals as Film Fest Albany, Los Angeles CineFest, Texas Ultimate Shorts (where it picked up the prize Best International Dark Comedy Short-Short), Plymouth Film Festival and others. For more information on the film, be sure to visit its official Facebook page and if you get a chance to check it out you definitely won't want to miss it. 

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic