Do No Harm (2020)

Filmed in just under five days and apparently with a budget of only £15,000 this short feature proves that you really need a much more cohesive concept underpinning a film if you are to compensate for a limited suite of resources. This one is set amidst what appears to be a top secret laboratory where “Beth” (Claudia Blakely) seems obsessed with a sandwich. Her pregnant colleague “Kirsty” (Alison O’Donnell) has her eyes on said snack, but is told it is out-of-date. She doesn’t care about that - it’s only cheese and tomato, but there now ensues a tense stand-off between the two women and then a “Mission Impossible” style attempt by “Beth” to retrieve it from it’s new home in a fridge in the cafeteria under the ever watchful eyes of the disillusioned security guard “Shauna” (Sharon Rooney). Ostensibly, this is about a character with OCD but the film doesn’t really explain that, indeed there is one scene that misleads us into thinking there is something way more sinister going on. That, I felt, rather confused the thrust of this heavily scored film that might have a point to make but that really falls short when it comes to informing us or taking us with “Beth” on her almost comedic quest. Rooney takes the acting plaudits for her few scenes, but again those have little to do with the purported aim of this film and more to do with exposing the lot of a dedicated worker who is in no way appreciated by her bosses - bosses whom we see on one occasion expertly present an example of managerial gobbledegook. It’s competently put together, but I felt it lacked focus. Worth a watch, though.