Very recently, I was reading a Vanity Fair article about the terrific, anxiety-inducing ending of Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, and one particular thing, said by the film’s writer Justin Kuritzkes, caught my eye. Kuritzkes has a very specific philosophy when it comes to movie writing. He intends to begin the narrative from a point where no build-up has happened, and then he prefers to cap it off at the point when the audience is at the peak of their excitement level. It basically means you are thrown into the world of a movie without any prior knowledge, and just when you’re absolutely invested in the whole thing, the story pulls the rug out from under your feet, leaving you with ambiguity and anticipation. To me, this makes a lot of sense, especially when it comes to short films. Because in feature films, you still have the option to take some time to set up the table before serving the meal. But when you have about twenty minutes or something in hand, it’s better to deliver things right away. Here we have a short film which does just that.
I’m talking about the Egyptian short film I don’t care if the world collapses here, which is directed by Karim Shaaban. This twenty-minute short has managed to do something that many feature-length films often struggle to pull off—telling a story that keeps you invested from the first second to the last and then leaves you thinking about it for quite some time. Shaaban meticulously unfolds his narrative like a play, clearly an intentional move, and then draws the curtain at the perfect moment. A minute more or less, I don’t care if the world collapses would have probably lost its edge.
So what exactly is the deal here? Our central character, Loubna, is a young line producer. I don’t care if the world collapses focuses on her on a specific day when she has to conduct an advertisement shoot. It’s an advertisement for an ice cream brand, and the two actors are a little girl and an old man. The old man, Farouk, appears to be overjoyed and particularly excited with the shoot. This is his first foray into acting, something that he always wanted to do but didn’t get the chance (or courage) to before. Farouk mentions Ali, his best friend who’s also his brother-in-law, as the motivation behind him finally making it onto the acting scene. Just when it seems like the shoot is going to go easy peasy, something happens. And Farouk doesn’t want to do this anymore. That’s all I’m going to tell you, and the reason I have said this much is only because my agenda is to get you to read this and then go watch the short to find out what happens next.
In I don’t care if the world collapses, the question of morality plays an essential part. Both Loubna and Farouk’s characters have to make a choice at some point of the story, which will effectively decide what happens next. The conversion scenes between these two are absolutely fantastic. On that note, I should mention here that Salma Abu-Deif, the actress who plays Loubna, is absolutely magnificent. And so is Emad Rashad, who plays Farouk. I haven’t seen either of these two in anything before, but from what I gather from here, they’re supremely talented. Loubna and Farouk may be the primary players here, but there are two other characters who complement these two. Emad Tayeb, who plays production manager Magdi, and Amer Salah Ekdin, who plays the director of the commercial, are also very good. When Farouk suddenly refuses to continue the shooting, Magdi understandably loses his mind and goes berserk. The director, on the other hand, is a calmer character who is mostly curious and observant but also a little frustrated. The variety of the characters adds a zing to the narrative, which was already perfect anyway. It would be wrong of me if I didn’t mention the name of Wael Hamdy, who has written, I don’t care if the world collapses.
Whenever I come across a truly great short, my mind automatically goes to “what if this ever becomes a full-length film”! Quite naturally, I don’t care if the world collapses did make me ponder over that, but strangely enough, I failed to reach a conclusion. It’s undeniable that there’s a certain possibility of expanding the narrative and getting a film out of it. I can see that happening with an exploration of Farouk’s backstory (about which we already have an idea, thanks to his words) along with further development of Loubna’s character. Magdi and the director should also become important supporting characters to hold the narrative strong. But it’s all hypothetical, after all. The fact we have in hand is that I don’t care if the world collapses, with its twenty-minute time frame, is perfect from start to finish. Maybe it’s not a good idea to stretch it like a rubber band and tarnish the legacy. Especially when you think about the ending, which might be a big surprise for you and entirely change your perception about a certain character, it’s unmatchable. In a longer format, it might not be possible to stage such an ending with ease!
Before I conclude, I should add that I believe short film-making should be considered a separate form of art to regular filmmaking. It’s a very different ball game, and you need very specific skills to make the good ones. I have been fortunate enough to watch quite a few shorts in recent times for work purposes, and each one of those has been quite unique in terms of style and approach. I’m not sure if this should be called any wave, but shorts like I don’t care if the world collapses are bound to make us respect the format, which we sometimes see as something inferior to feature films, albeit unintentionally.
