“A Good Match” explores the impact of secondary relationships—and how they sometimes matter more than primary ones.
The title of Lyn Elliot's short film, "A Good Match," hints at its relationship-hinged plot, and the film's opening sequence of a revolving slot machine of faces does the same. But it's not until the slot machine picks three faces that the audience might begin to realize that this isn't the typical love story.
Ann is an average girl. She's in her mid-20s and hasn't had much luck with men. Her main concern, however, isn't just finding a good girl-to-boy match, but also finding a good girl-to-boy's-mom match to go along with it. "A Good Match" shows what happens when Ann attempts to salvage her relationship with her ex-boyfriend's mother Carol.
"What I wanted to do was take a character getting out of that narcissistic stage and realizing she is not going to be 25 forever. Instead, she starts noticing older women who have something to offer rather than simply being someone's mom," Elliot said in an interview with KC Studios.
While spending quality time with Carol, Ann gleans life lessons from her. During a walk in a local park, Carol tells Ann that her life would have been just as good had she not gotten married, expressing that happiness does not come from just romantic relationships. By using first- and third-person storytelling, the 13-minute film gives viewers an insight to the motivations behind Ann's actions while also showing the outcomes of them. "A Good Match," while focusing on one relationship hindered by another, might also be a narrative about self-evaluation and acknowledgment.
"A Good Match" screens at 7:20 p.m. April 4 on Screen C as part of the Shorts 1: Dark Comedy & Satire block.
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