"Slice of Life" -- Blade Runner Fan Short

A spare story and surprisingly good low-budget effects make for a good short film.

Released in 2019, Slice of Life is a low-budget short film made in Croatia. This is the kind of short movie you would see in the bad ol’ days before CGI effects. Most of the work here is miniatures and matte paintings, the practical sets are small and claustrophobic. With no a single word uttered by the characters — all of the dialogue is in the form of advertisement billboards and blimps ala Blade Runner — you still get the motivations of the characters and the stakes that are at play. All the stuff Hollywood has forgotten in its rush to push agendas and make a quick buck.

There is also a nice set of production diaries to show how they pulled this off.

The story revolves around a small-time drug dealer (played by the screenwriter, Anton Svetić) trying to put together the money to get off of Earth and catch the next ship to the Off-World Colonies Islands. He’s a bit shy of the dough, so he buys a code cracker to bust into an ATM owned by Shimago-Dominguez Corporation (a direct tip of the hat to the Blade Runner universe). However, he’s been spotted by a dirty cop (Iviča Pustički) who wants his bundle of credits. This leads to a square-off in a gross public toilet near the launch field.

The acting is what you might expect from a group of small film makers (directed by Luka Hrgović and Dino Julius) and their friends. It’s not bad, really, but it’s not top-shelf. However, the miniatures and matte work is solidly good, and in some places ‘80s Hollywood quality. The music is atmospheric and evocative of the film that inspired it.

It’s worth a look.