Mouse

Single mum Denise is caught in a game of cat-and-mouse.

Quite what is going on, is left initially mysterious, but the impact of it on Denise (Lynn Rafferty) lies at the centre of Rosie Barrett’s tense and compelling short, Mouse. The film opens with Denise walking through suburbia in her dressing gown, eventually arriving at a car before cursing and driving it home. It transpires that these car thefts are a recurring incident and one Denise is attributing to the local lads that she’s seen her daughter, Shawna (Lucie Doran), hanging out with.

Barrett’s screenplay, written with Alan O’Gorman, doesn’t focus on unravelling the intrigue of what is going on with the car, or precisely whether Jordon (Lewis Brophy) and his mates are responsible. Instead, in keeping with its title, the film explores the impact that this game is having on the mouse, Denise. She begins to see Jordon when he’s not there and jumps at the sound of the doorbell in the corner shop in which she works. None of this is helped by the strained relationship she has with Shawna, who wants to hang out in the park after school and abhors her mother fussing.

The success of this set up rests primarily on the shoulders of Lynn Rafferty and she does a commendable job or portraying Denise’s fractious response to these triggers. She manages to blend curtain-twitching anxiety with maternal frustration, allowing the ripple effect of what’s happening to her to spread to loved ones. Barrett keeps things tight, as this narrative could easily extend, but at a brisk 17 minutes Mouse manages to convey Denise’s mental state brilliantly, before a final scene that offers a ray of light going forward.

Director: Rosie Barrett
Cast: Lynn Rafferty, Lucie Doran, Lewis Brophy, Nathan Batt, Mary Brighid McDonagh, Aisling D’Arcy
Screenplay: Alan O’Gorman, Rosie Barrett
Producers: Aisling Malone, Lorraine Higgins
Cinematography: Albert Hooi
Editing: John Walters
Sound: Robin Sherry-Wood
Music: Reuben Harvey
Production design: Saoirse O’Shea
Costume: Zoe Redmond
Production companies: Rye Films (Ireland)
Venue: Oldenburg Film Festival (Shorts)
In English
17 minutes

Read more of our short film coverage over at Verdict Shorts