In his short film We Gather, Dominic Curran has captured the utter devastation of grief in such a beautifully wrenching manner. From top to bottom, this is a tremendous piece of short film cinema.

A young man struggles with regret as the passage of time gives way to a flowing narrative of fractured memories.

Writers Dominic Curran and Will Reade have taken the intriguing route of showing us Elliott’s journey backwards. Somehow making those events even more compelling than if they were told in a standard linear fashion. We see him distant, struggling to accept his own emotions about being home. There has been a loss in the family, and sometimes, as the person who lives away from home, it is easier to keep that distance from the reality of the pain within your family circle.

From a personal standpoint, I have been in Elliott’s shoes, and so We Gather hits you like a sledgehammer with how on-point it feels. You are busy with your life, and because you are not there day in and day out, you can’t connect in the same way as those who have to care for that ill family member. You feel as if all empathy has been lost within you, so as we watch Elliott and Robert share a drink together, all Elliott can do is sit silently, as if he is there to let everyone else let out their emotions just because he didn’t experience the same thing as the rest of his family.

At the film’s beginning, Elliott says he has been too busy and apologises only for the next shot between the long cuts to black of him in bed. He isn’t lying per se to his family; he may not be actively busy, but his mind has locked him away, and he can’t let himself be in that environment due to the guilt he has built up within himself. Once the situation and how Dominic Curran (who has also taken on directorial duties for We Gather) reveals itself, it becomes something quite devastating. While the family have been grieving together, Elliott has been alone and only able to let out his emotions here and there.

At each new fragment of this fractured film, we are given another glimpse of devastation. Each one connects in its own way, but always with the same effect. We Gather chips away at you in ways few films manage to do. By breaking the film down into little moments like this, Curran allows us to reflect and recover in those lengthened black moments before bringing us something entirely new and poignant to consider and leave ruminating in our minds.

Possibly, it is because of how the film is presented or because I feel like I have gone through this very story with the loss of a parent. Still, We Gather just the fragility you have in these situations as a young person. We watch that slow, painful journey and just ache for him and the family. You are struggling, and sometimes it is just simpler to think back to an easier time as comfort. To escape for a short while, go into that quiet daze and not allow yourself to reside in the now.

The cast does some tremendous work here as we see the different stages of their grief; Peter Young (Elliott) and Richard McFerran (Robert) break you with how gentle and fragile their performances are. They sell you on this story, and when we get to remember the first scene of them walking down the lane together to that final one, it wounds you. You want them back to that place where they were joking and at ease. We only spend a few minutes with them, but their performances and Curran and Reade’s script have you thoroughly engaged.

Couple this with some mesmerising cinematography from George Barnes that just lets us sit and observe this crumbling world that this family is encountering, and you can’t help but be engaged in what We Gather presents to you. Chris Ryan’s score evokes a haunting loneliness as well. We see Elliott with his family, even being held by them, but he always seems so separated from proceedings.

It is hard to imagine that from what we see and experience, that We Gather is only 17 minutes in length. You feel so much sorrow in these characters and within yourself in that time that you could be forgiven for thinking much longer has gone by. It’s a testament to the talent in front and behind the camera that you feel as much as you do here in this utterly fantastic short.

★★★★★

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