Cargo
April 7, 2013 4:08 AM   Subscribe

Cargo is a short film about a man and his baby daughter in the aftermath of an apocalypse. It was a finalist at the Tropfest short film festival. It contains no dialogue.
posted by secretdark (27 comments total) 43 users marked this as a favorite
 
Phenomenal. I know everyone says zombies are played out, and I think that's true, but this was a really excellent take on it. I got chills when I realized the point of the bag of meat.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 4:35 AM on April 7, 2013


That was quite good thanks.
posted by wilful at 5:14 AM on April 7, 2013


I liked that too, but the title is a bit of a spoiler. It's just a matter of when you realize it. Also, how did he tie his own hands together? Not that it ruined it for me, but it immediately came to mind. Typically that requires at least a third hand. Did the baby help?
posted by Toekneesan at 5:46 AM on April 7, 2013


Did the baby help?

As the caretaker of a baby, I'd have to say, no, under no circumstances did the baby help. It's not what they do.
posted by Lord_Pall at 5:49 AM on April 7, 2013 [11 favorites]


From the same short film festival, this one about time travel is also quite good in a similar way.
posted by Iosephus at 5:55 AM on April 7, 2013 [15 favorites]


I liked this.

But though I can suspend disbelief about zombies, on reflection I find I cannot suspend disbelief about the steering mechanism in this film. Have you ever let your car's steering alignment go wrong by even five or ten degrees? Correcting for it becomes a full-time job. Chances are, given the steering mechanism here, you'd end up going in circles endlessly.

That said, as the father of a newborn daughter, I suddenly realized I'm going to have to rethink all my apocalyptic strategies fantasies. So great film, in that respect.
posted by anotherpanacea at 6:01 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]


I really liked the film, too.

anotherpanacea, can you explain what you mean by this:

anotherpanacea: "I liked this.

But though I can suspend disbelief about zombies, on reflection I find I cannot suspend disbelief about the steering mechanism in this film. Have you ever let your car's steering alignment go wrong by even five or ten degrees? Correcting for it becomes a full-time job. Chances are, given the steering mechanism here, you'd end up going in circles endlessly. "

posted by sundaydriver at 6:33 AM on April 7, 2013


Navigating is hard. It's harder when you're not actually... ummm, driving? You saw the film, right? How did he stay pointed in the right direction, bag of meat or no?

I was just kidding, really.
posted by anotherpanacea at 6:40 AM on April 7, 2013


Ah, okay! I was curious about your comment because I thought I was missing something from the car crash at the beginning of the film.
posted by sundaydriver at 6:47 AM on April 7, 2013


It was my impression that he did not instantly turn into a zombie; he still had some will power.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:33 AM on April 7, 2013


That was great, there is too much dust in this room.
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 7:41 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm sorry, I hated it.
posted by marvin at 8:30 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]


Thanks, this was great.

If you like short Australian zombie films, here's another: I Love Sarah Jane.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 9:45 AM on April 7, 2013


Definitely an effective tear jerker.

A couple thoughts on his hands being tied and the bag of guts used as a steering device. It looked to me as though he'd used his belt to do the tying, and given the mechanics of a belt I'd think even just using two hands (with the option of teeth as a third hand) one could more or less bind the wrists in such a way that a mindless creature would have difficulty accidentally undoing them. As for the bag o' guts, perhaps in this instance it was working more or less as just a deterrent to the snack on his back and not an actual steering device.
posted by Nosmot at 10:09 AM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]


We seriously need a moratorium on zombie stuff.
posted by The River Ivel at 12:01 PM on April 7, 2013 [1 favorite]


I rather enjoyed that, thank you for posting.
posted by arcticseal at 12:12 PM on April 7, 2013


We seriously need a moratorium on zombie stuff.

We could try but it would just keep coming back...
posted by ropeladder at 12:28 PM on April 7, 2013 [14 favorites]


Well, when you get tired of Zombies, you'll notice that Bitcoin is up over $160 now. ;-)
posted by MikeWarot at 3:20 PM on April 7, 2013


Those were good. Thanks for posting!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 5:57 PM on April 7, 2013


I liked what George Romero was getting at with zombies in his first couple of movies...
posted by KokuRyu at 10:23 PM on April 7, 2013


In the big picture that unites all the narratives of "life with zombies" this was a unique take that I haven't seen before. Perfect for a short film and perfect for those of us who thoroughly enjoy bean-plating various aspects of "life with zombies". Thanks for posting!
posted by olya at 1:01 AM on April 8, 2013


Not sure how you can say Zombies are played out, when there's still room in the genre for ideas like this one? (Which, admittedly, is better than the last five episodes of The Walking Dead combined)
posted by panaceanot at 2:01 AM on April 8, 2013


I find I cannot suspend disbelief about the steering mechanism in this film.

That was #1, but there were a few others: pulling the mom's sticker off the car (c'mon), and blowing up the balloon. I didn't buy either. Well conceived short, but those details detracted. For me.

Also, wouldn't you write more of a note?
posted by mrgrimm at 11:11 AM on April 8, 2013


I think the mom sticker and the balloon were all about the dad desperately trying to keep the baby from crying and thereby attracting the attention of other zombies.
posted by BlueJae at 11:49 AM on April 8, 2013 [2 favorites]


Good call. I'll take the balloon then (though wouldn't the baby be yelling to hold it?) but not the mom sticker. Doesn't he say something like "say bye bye to mommy?" Too much.

It contains no dialogue.

Not totally true. The baby gets one very important line. (and not totally true for the dad's muttering comment above, either.)
posted by mrgrimm at 12:30 PM on April 8, 2013


So incredibly NOT into zombies, but this shit made me cry.
posted by arielmeadow at 10:06 AM on April 9, 2013


this shit made me cry

As soon as the dad realizes he's bit, I had to fight a strong urge to turn the whole thing off.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:29 AM on April 9, 2013


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