A couple argues before their wedding.
REDO is used with permission from John Paul Summers. Learn more at imdb.com/title....
Rachel and Jimmy are about to get married at the courthouse. They were due to be married before, but Rachel had called off the wedding because she wasn't ready. Feeling pre-wedding nerves and jitters, Rachel decides to get a "redo" procedure, which allows people to mentally undo past mistakes. She decides to experience what life would be like if she hadn't gone on her first date with Jimmy. Assured that she was better off with Jimmy and life without him wasn't as good, she's now ready to move ahead.
But Jimmy is hurt upon hearing about Rachel's doubts and redo, and he decides to do a redo of his own, upsetting Rachel. Soon they go back and forth, trying to one-up one another, until their argument reaches the breaking point and the future of their relationship is called into question.
Directed by John Paul Summers from a script co-written with Matt Black, Melissa Lehman and Michael Tacconi, this funny, intriguing short opens with a beautifully shot sequence of a potential couple meeting for drinks on the levee at sunset. Captured in luminous cinematography, the scene is lush with an aspirational, romantic sheen, and the looks between Jimmy and Rachel hold the promise of attraction and affection.
The next scene, however -- of Rachel in a doctor's office, coming back to consciousness after a "redo" procedure -- is more akin to a sci-fi film. As we watch the emotional fallout of that procedure, the storytelling weaves the futuristic conceit with the romantic premise, achieving funny, fascinating and ultimately resonant effects. As it turns out, the redo is more of a personal exploration for Rachel, who has had jitters about marrying Jimmy in the past. She's a flighty, whimsical character in general, but the redo is intended as a way to cast out any lingering doubts that life would be better if she didn't marry Jimmy.
Jimmy, however, interprets Rachel's need for a redo differently and is hurt that she still has doubts about him and their marriage. He does his own redo, choosing to envision life without Rachel. This leads to a toxic cycle, as they get redo after redo. We unfortunately never see the redos play out, but the storytelling focuses less on the paths not taken and more on how this cycle affects their love and relationship with one another. It's not the content of the redos themselves that is the problem, but the dynamic that Jimmy and Rachel get caught up in, as they stop listening to each other and instead compete against each other for the better, happier redo.
Actors Melissa Lehman and Michael Tacconi deftly play both the romantic and comedic elements of their characters and relationships. Their acceleration into a heightened form of bickering, upping one another and feeding off each other's anger is funny and perhaps uncomfortably relatable. But when that cycle plays out, they realize they've hit the breaking point of their relationship, with no way forward together.
The final section of REDO moves into a more melancholic direction, with both Jimmy and Rachel on their own. Yet both find their way back to their point of origin as a couple together. They're more weary, and they've seen each other at their worst. Yet, in some fragile way, they choose each other again -- perhaps acknowledging that couples do have to choose one another again and again, after each bump or explosion on their journey together.