Of Late: A Story of Old Acquaintances, and How We Come to Share and Part Ways

Jamie Knox’s Of Late digs into the core of a personal tragedy just as its protagonist moves forward—if with her sight set downward—in the spiralling path out of grief. A heartbreaking account of the death of a dream, the 20-minute film then switches back and forth between the dual time of the before and long after loss.

The camera captures Mia (Jamie Nelson) and Chris (Ehren Kassam) in a cocoon of bliss. Then, anxiety, exhaustion, comfort, and grief. Each felt acutely in tight closeups that dissolve the outlines of the figures. When the film opens, the couple are a picture of cosy, euphoric contentment. There is even a baby on the way. On the surface of it, the story is the chronicle of a disintegration—it certainly seems that way in the moment when we see Mia following Chris as he seems replete with the accoutrements of a whole other life.

But it also feels like a catastrophe that was always going to be. Mia is riddled by fears of inadequacy—the result of a rough life. Chris likes to comfort and reassure her. It is a circular self-feeding loop. Perhaps it could have only run for so long.

It is not to say that either character is unlikable. If anything, they are perfectly understandable. The film’s approach to the story makes it deeply intimate until it reaches its zenith in Mia, who takes the place of a camera that toes the line between observation and intrusion. To get to this point, the plot passes through a long, gut-wrenching scene which renders all of Mia’s fears about raising her baby pointless. The relationship falls apart as completely and permanently as an egg that slipped through your fingers before you could realise it. Nelson, with whom the film spends its most time, makes it a rewarding experience.

The music and Nelson’s performance turns what could have felt only bitter into something more akin to bittersweet. As she makes her way back to the car on that snowy evening, with a rendition of Auld Lang Syne on the soundtrack, it is impossible not to feel the entirety of her heartbreak. The only mercy is that we experience it in fragments.

Watch Of Late Short Film Trailer