Circle of Fate
“Circle of Fate” is directed by Desmond Denton, and is a story centered around an international trafficking industry. Tamara is a journalist investigating the sex industry in Thailand. She goes undercover in one of these trafficking rings in hope of uncovering and stopping the ring from continuing. While there she finds one of the girls being held captive, Eileen, who was abducted from South Africa not too far from where Tamara lives. Protocol says to keep your distance from the sex workers to not draw attention to yourself, but Tamara is desperate to save Eileen from this terrible situation. Will Tamara be able to help Eileen escape? Or will the sex trafficking syndicate discover her, leaving her to live the same fate as Eileen? “Circle Of Fate” brings together heart and desperation, and Is a great introduction to a bigger world crafted by Desmond Denton.
I myself am a fan of films such as this, you can see influences from the Taken franchise, or really any film in the genre. I like seeing our hero go undercover in a dark world that most people don’t realize is right at their backdoor. In this short, Tamara feels strong and sure of what she needs to do to get the information needed to save these women but is overcome when discovering Eileen. The acting between the two work well and I liked their chemistry together. The performances by everyone running the trafficking ring are good, with a lot of character to their roles no matter how much time they have on screen. The story doesn’t reveal many tidbits about our main character Tamara, but because of how good her performance as I would love to see this short be expanded into a longer story, with more backstory and context of the characters and the world surrounding them.
On a technical scale “Circle of Fate” has a lot of great shots with neon colors ala “John Wick”. The neon blues and reds really pop on screen and add a lot of production value to the short. The camerawork is steady and framed very nicely, and the handheld tracking shots never felt out-of-hand or shaky. Tonally, the short is very suspenseful for clocking in at around 7 minutes. I was impressed that even not knowing the characters as well as you would in a feature-length film, that you still were immediately able to relate to them. The pacing works great at well and keeps the suspense going up until the very end.
I feel that I’m reviewing a short film that could easily be expanded on into a feature-length film. Though I loved the characters and the story concept, I found myself wanting to spend more time with the characters and know more about what I was seeing. “Circle of Fate” is a journey into the unknown, and with a strong cast and impressive visual talent, Is one that will leave you wanting more and excited to see a continuation of the story introduced.
