Midlands Review of Reduced to Clear

midlandsmovies • November 8, 2021

Reduced to Clear

 

Written & directed by Luke Allen & Alex Yousefi

 

2021


A man named Mike (good name) starts work at a small charity shop in a new locally-made short film about the trials and tribulations of shop workers and their awkward customers.


Welcomed by his new boss (Simon Fisher-Becker) who advises he “consults the rulebook” if he ever gets stuck with a patron, Mike (played by Edward Tidy) begins his shift and hopes for the best.


A gentleman soon arrives and tries to purchase a DVD (the man being The Office’s very own Ewen Macintosh) but his debit card is declined by the till.


A misunderstanding of what an “outstanding” balance is results in Mike paying the 50 pence charge himself rather than get into any further altercation.


The confusion continues as a second man attempts to order a coffee – popping £50 on the counter to get what he wants. Not wanting to lose the charity a big donation, Mike heads off in search of a coffee arriving in what can only be described as a 1930s speakeasy within the community centre he’s based.


At just 17 years-old filmmakers Luke Allen & Alex Yousefi inject their short with a host of visual, verbal and genre-nodding gags as well as a cameo of themselves that Hitchcock would be proud of.


The spirit of their project is clear to see on screen with a host of committed cast on board for the ride including some surprisingly well-known names as well.


And the script has a witty energy that far surpasses the age of its creators. (“That’s why I killed him” getting the biggest guffaw from this reviewer in a brief and very dark moment involving an old lady and her grandson).


What follows is a man with a gun, Mike’s own embarrassing mum and an unconscious old lady who all cross paths with Mike in quick succession before he eventually consults the “rulebook” – which turns out to be a real antique leather-bound tome.


A few areas of technical improvement would give it a slightly more professional gloss though. Having been filmed at Wakes community centre in Telford (Shropshire), the main location is clearly not a shop at all. The filmmakers would have done well to see if they could have shot at a more suitable location out-of-hours.


And although the lighting is a little off in places, the short itself does show lots of great ideas and the script and fast editing don’t allow audiences to dwell too much on the low-budget nature of the film. And it all culminates in a 4th-wall breaking ending that throws everything you’ve seen a little out of the window somewhat.


However, Reduced To Clear consistently keeps the viewer off kilter which maintains its interesting edge until the end. Throwing a lot into its 10 minutes, the short has its shortcomings with location and lighting, but viewers are compensated by surreal comic interludes, amusing characters played well by the cast and a sharp little script that keeps the whole thing chugging along at speed.


And if you donate just a little time to this, you’ll be more than pleased to see what the up-and-coming talent this region can produce under their own steam, with plenty more promise hinted upon too.


Michael Sales

By midlandsmovies April 25, 2025
Ti West’s The House of the Devil makes a wonderful companion piece to his film The Innkeepers. Both maintain the director’s referential approach to horror, incapsulating it in a slow burning 90 minutes that manages to build and maintain tension while cheekily winking to the audience and showing the mechanisms behind the scares.
By midlandsmovies April 21, 2025
Read the full list of nominees for the Midlands Movies Awards 2025
By midlandsmovies April 13, 2025
Local Midlands animator James Pyle enters 2025 with a selection of three new films and Midlands Movies takes a look at this collection of comedy shorts from the filmmaker.
By midlandsmovies April 12, 2025
In the run-up to the much anticipated release of famed movie-maker Wes Anderson's new film, The Phoenician Scheme, Warwick Arts Centre is hosting a very special "Wes Anderthon" on Saturday 17 May 2025.
Show More