A conflicted detective struggles to bring his own brother into custody in Matthias Salzburger’s short film.
We love the odd short film over at Film Stories – they’re like feature films, but smaller! We also know how difficult it is to get them in front of people’s eyeballs. That’s why, whenever we can, we like to throw the odd short at you that we think deserves a bit more attention.
That’s exactly what we’ve got here. Thicker Than Water is a detective drama two-hander starring Des Carney and David Shields as a cop and his drug dealing brother, Sam. When Sam sells some dodgy drugs resulting in a series of deaths at a music festival, Detective Mike has to choose between protecting his job and locking his brother up and throwing away the key.
The film has played at a whole bunch of film festivals since its debut in 2020, and it’s a really beautifully shot piece of work. From the neon-flecked opening shot at the aforementioned music festival to a lovely bit of underwater photography, it’s a really great example of efficient storytelling over a 15-minute runtime.
The performances from Carney and Shields are pretty magnetic too, and it’s impressive to see a story with something new to say in a genre that’s been dominating TV screens for decades.
In any case, we think it’s rather neat. Check it out at the link above, and do try and seek out some shorts when you can – they’re often a great little insight into the filmmakers of the future.
