FEELING THROUGH
Doug Roland (2019)
Short film
4.5 STARS
The world’s first film starring a deaf-blind actor is a beautifully crafted piece of art. Feeling Through provokes a smile, while digging deep into your sympathies, as it presents a truly touching story. Based on a real life experience of writer/director Doug Roland, the film explores the fleeting relationship of a down on his luck teen and an endearing deaf-blind man.
Set on the streets of New York in the early hours of the morning, the cinematography perfectly captures the gritty beauty of the city while staying true to the, relatively, intimate setting. The sound design also deserves plaudits as apt melodies string together the events of the narrative without stepping all over the theme of the film, and a certain moment of poignant silence presents the audience with an opportunity to empathise with the characters they are invested in.
An outstanding leading performance by Steven Prescod, as the unfortunate teen, demands sympathy while offering companionship to the star of the show, the equally excellent Robert Tarango. Tarango’s potentially unlikely dream of becoming an actor is realised in impressive fashion with a touching debut performance.
An incredible amount of story is delicately arranged into this perfectly paced eighteen minute short. A couple of well constructed moments of levity balance the gentle narrative and the impact of the message behind it. While, at the same time, the genuine hardships of the characters are expressed in such a way as to leave the audience with justified optimism for the world they have, so briefly, been sucked into.
Roland, and everybody involved in this production, can be proud of what they have contributed to not just the film world, but to the death-blind community too. Feeling Through is free on youtube, go and watch it, right now. You won’t regret it.
Watch Feeling Through here.