The Oswegonian

The Independent Student Newspaper of Oswego State

DATE

Apr. 25, 2024 

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Archives Laker Review

‘Runaround’ ventures into adolescent themes

Runaround

KT Auleta, a former resident of Oswego, screened her short film, "Runaround," in the Campus Center Auditorium on Monday, April 12 at 4 p.m.

The short is primarily a study of Jay, a promiscuous 15-year-old, who, like her friends and all post-adolescents, is soul-searching in her world, bereft of meaning, devoid of love and lack of parental guidance and has satiated this void with drugs and sex.

In fact, a parental influence is neither seen nor even alluded to in Jay’s, or any of her friends’ environments. Their responses to the stimuli that affect these girls; whether it be heartbreak, feelings of ostracism or just plain ennui, are not acts of rebellion. The characters seem disaffected and highly receptive; dolorous yet with a joie de vivre. These contradictory feelings are efficaciously shown to the viewer as two sides of the same coin.

"Runaround" was lovingly shot in Oswego, but one wouldn’t really know that if they didn’t read the end credits. It could very well be just any nondescript town; Anywhere, U.S.A.

The short is filmed as if Lukas Moodysson used the infamous "Dogme 95" approach to remake Catherine Hardwicke’s film "Thirteen,. There are some moments in the film that are shot with an almost painterly quality. In one of the final scenes, Jay trips on acid with a boy during a gorgeous moment of daybreak. It’s a hypnotic scene, with aquatic hues that seem to cascade across the camera lens, beautifully complimenting the hallucinogenic state of mind shared by the characters.

The film transferred quite poorly during the screening and skipped quite frequently, much to its director’s infuriation, and at times removed the viewer from the experience. However, the message and its execution were not lost in its poor technological translation.