Reflections on A Well-Done Career

Bruce Von Stiers

There is a short film that is about the ending of someone's last day of work. The title of the film is Shift Change. The film is a drama that has a unique perspective on life and death.

A and B do the same work. But A is now ending his career. B meets up with A in a parking lot. They begin to talk about what A will now be doing. There is something about A not going digital like they were all supposed to.

Then the film moves to a flashback scene. Susan is jogging on a wooded trail. She stops to catch her breath. Next thing is the audience sees her on the ground, apparently dead. But there she is, standing with A, looking down at her body. Talking with A, she lists some things she did right in her life. A agrees, but Susan can't remember why she felt sad all of the time. A asks if she'd like to try this again.

I wasn't sure what A meant by his statement. I was assuming that A was some kind of angel or being who helped people move from the physical world to the spiritual world. But a do over? Was this a slant on reincarnation or something else spiritually wise?

There is more conversation between A and B and other flashback scenes. B complains about the backlog of work he'll have now that A will be gone. A wants to get into beekeeping.

A flashback scene has B dealing with a woman named Adrianne who can't seem to fathom why it's not her time to go. After that, in a scene with a convict, A tries to help the man, Matt, make his ultimate choice. And a final flashback scene with A and a young girl, Chelsea, brings into focus his desire to become a beekeeper.

A piece of one of the conversations between A and B deals with how people pray to the various deities but never step up to actually help anyone.

The film ends with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe about the boundaries between life and death.

Tess Halling was Chelsea. She appeared in Star Crossed: The Film. Cathy Lind Hayes was Adrianne. She's played a judge, a nurse, a mom, a teacher and assorted other characters on episodic television along with appearing in numerous films. Susan Louise O'Connor played Susan. She appeared in The Lincoln Lawyer, All Rise and Euphoria along with co-starring in the horror thriller Lexi. Glen Stanton played Matt. He was in several episodes of The Walking Dead and a couple of episodes of 4400.

Phil Idrissi was A. He played a judge for several episodes of Doubt, appeared in a few other television shows and has voiced characters in video games. He also co-wrote the story for this film.

Max E. Williams played B. He was in a couple of Bosch episodes and played Jack Nicholson in a series about the L.A. Lakers.

Amy Dellagiarino was the screenwriter for the film along with Phil Idrissi. She wrote the screenplay for Freelancers Anonymous and has acted in a few films.

Mark Hensley was the co-producer of the film with Phil Idrissi. Hensley was also the cinematographer and editor. His credits include being the re-recording mixer for shows such as The Equalizer, Mayan M.C. and Tulsa King.

Shift Change was indeed very unique. I liked that the A and B characters were there to guide humans to the spiritual world. But was that exactly what was going on? Chelsea makes a comment on who she wanted to come back as. This made me think that one aspect of the film might deal with reincarnation. But to me, it was implied that Chelsea, Matt, Susan and Adrianne would all be ascending to a spiritual plane and not having their spirits return to earth in a different way. The film was definitely thought provoking. The acting was well done and Idrissi and Willams seemed convincing in their roles.

The film has won the Best Short award at both the Bridges International Film Festival and the Fallbrook Bonsall Film Festival. It is a finalist in the Short category for the Santa Clarita International Film Festival.

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers