Two Distant Strangers
Short description
Carter James is walking home to his dog when a routine encounter with a police officer turns fatal. Instead of dying once, he wakes up and lives the same confrontation again, and again, each repetition ending the same way. Getting home means finding a way out of the loop, while the officer's actions remain as constant as Carter's determination to reach his apartment.
Two Distant Strangers is a 32-minute American drama released in November 2020, directed by Martin Desmond Roe and Travon Free; Free wrote the screenplay, and the producers include Lawrence Bender, Jesse Williams and Chris Uettwiller. Joey Bada$$ plays Carter James, with Andrew Howard as Officer Merk and Zaria, Mona Sishodia, Cameron Early and Jeremy Rivette in supporting roles.
The film's ratings sit in moderately positive territory rather than at either extreme. On IMDb it holds 6.8 out of 10 from roughly 24,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7 out of 10 from about 530 votes. A critics' rating of 7.2 out of 10 from 16 reviews puts professional assessment slightly above the IMDb audience figure, though all three scores cluster closely together. The volume of votes suggests the short reached a wide audience for its format, far beyond the smaller group who rated it on TMDB.
What's left behind the scenes
- In April 2021, director Cynthia Kao posted a short message on social media about the similarities between the fantastical short drama "Two Distant Strangers" (2020) and her own short film "Groundhog Day for a Black Man" (2016). She noted, in particular, that the credits for "Two Distant Strangers" mention the production company NowThis, the very same one that handled the distribution and promotion of her short film in 2016. Director and screenwriter of "Strangers" Travon Free, in his own post and in an article written for the Washington Post, refuted all allegations of plagiarism, stating that the screenplay for "Strangers" was inspired by an event that happened to him personally and by Harold Ramis's romantic comedy "Groundhog Day" (1993) starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, and not by Kao's short film.
- When Carter is killed right outside his home, the spilled bloodstain takes the shape of Africa.
- In one scene in the car, Carter (played by Joey Bada$$) talks about a movie with Kevin Hart and calls it "a lie." He is referring to Tim Story's comedy action film "Ride Along" (2013).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
