'Ralph' Review

Ralph is a short film directed and written by Alex Winckler, with a running time of twelve minutes and thirty seven seconds. It was released in 2008 on the twenty fifth of June and filmed in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhone in France. I would classify this film as a PG because there is no strong language and violence used or frightening scenes that would be unsuitable for people of a certain age. The main genres of this short film are romance and drama because it is a love story based on a plot that could easily occur in real life. There are five characters we get to know in Ralph which are: Ralph, the leading character played by Ralph Laurila; Julie, the waitress played by Julie Dray; Clare, played by Emily Seale Jones; Edouard, the waiter played by Jean-Francois; and Lorenzo who is played by Julien Martin.

‘Ralph’ is about a young boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, who travels to France in the search for a girl named Clare who is not expecting him. However, when he arrives he discovers that he wrote the wrong number down and in great panic and confusion, he phones numerous numbers to try and get through to her but he has no luck. Eventually, Ralph resorts to a café to which he meets Edouard, the waiter and Julie the waitress to whom he feels an instant connection with. From here, the narrative develops to end with an unexpected plot twist which is very powerful and leaves the audience feeling sympathetic towards Ralph. One of the main themes explored in this film is isolation because Ralph is completely alone when he arrives in France and he cannot properly communicate with anyone as they are all speaking in a foreign language; he is left feeling lost and out of place. This theme is enhanced by the fact that no subtitles are used as this means the audience cannot understand what is being said by the foreign people, just like Ralph. This gives the film a more realistic feel to it and it gives us the opportunity to feel Ralph’s confusion as if we are there with him. Another theme that is explored is love as Clare is obviously very special to Ralph otherwise he would not have travelled all the way to France by himself just to find her.

During this film, there is a great variation of camera shots and types that are all used to create different effects. Medium, over the shoulder shots are used when two characters are interacting which help the audience to feel included in the conversation. Wide shots are used to show the surroundings helping us to engage more with what is going on and feel empathy towards Ralph who is alone in such a big area. Close ups and extreme close ups are frequently used to convey emotions. For example, when Ralph attempts to call Clare at the very beginning of the film and there is no answer, an extreme close up is used to show that he is upset and anxious. Throughout the course of the film, background noise is used to create a much more realistic atmosphere and if there was no background noise then the narrative would have a ‘made up’ feel to it and the scenario would not be considered as something that could happen to anyone. For the same reasons, natural lighting is used which reminds me of a short film called ‘get off my land’ by Douglas Ray which also uses natural lighting. Both short films may have used this feature because it sticks to the genre of drama and gives the films a non-fiction feel to them, making them more relatable for the audience.

In my opinion, I found ‘Ralph’ very enjoyable because as the film progresses I found myself being drawn into it because you are never too sure on what is going to happen next. I also like how such a straight forward story can have so much meaning to it and how the emotions shown through each character can have a big impact on you. I believe that Alex Winckler was very smart and imaginative when it came to writing and directing this short film, especially with the ending because he was able to turn the narrative around and create a plot twist in such a short space of time.