7th Singapore Short Cuts - 'Nobody's Home' by Nelson Yeo
Nelson's taken a leap in his execution and vision with Nobody's Home. He's had a few short films going around between First Takes and other one-off screening events but none were confident in their execution as this one. The premise is an obvious long shot - Western genre in a HDB setting. What on earth does the HDB-scape have that is inspired heroism, courage, dare-devil acts and the swashbuckling spirit of a cowboy? What then appears at first glance to me is two Ah Bengs dealing with money under the table while drifting in and out of staircases and void decks. But on hindsight, I though it was quite ingenious of Nelson to reinterpret the Ah Beng into a cowboy parallel. Having said that, none of it would have been effective if not for its thoughtful and well-designed cinematography. Moving shots punctuated with appropriate pauses, clever play with spaces and a wise choice of Queenstown (the abandoned part) all added to its visual aesthetic.

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