"Soft" Brief Analysis

Soft

Production titles/film title show on black screen/white writing, dialogue interludes with it

Teenagers running across a field, girl gestures to camera – suggests film is from POV shot/the audience is the protagonist, see people arguing, punching victim, others filming on their phones

Quiet street, car pulling up, man gets out (looks business like)

Loud music playing, young boy runs up stairs when man comes in, shouts his name, orders him about, man goes into kitchen, makes tea, opens fridge, no milk, asks boy to get milk, no answer, man kicks the boys bag by the front door (showing disregard),

Man goes out door, acts friendly with neighbour, walks down street, camera follows him

Crosscuts to other scene, beat-boxing through a cone, using slang,

Man walking down path, church bell ringing

Hooded gangsters loiter, verbally abuse a passing woman

Man walks down pavement, continuous bell ring, man walks into the scene with the hooded gangsters, taunts the gangsters after they try to scare him, they verbally threaten him, slams shop door in their faces, gangsters banging on window, man buys milk, asks gangster to move out of the doorway, does so, camera reverts back to low quality (is it a phone recording?), gangster scares him, drops milk, gangster physically kicks him, man walks off, gangsters spit/swear, start dancing, begin to follow him, man clearly annoyed, crosscuts to what the gangsters did to him, expression of anger intensifies

Man arrives back home, boy is on the sofa, looks agitated, man goes in kitchen, boy tries to strike up conversation, boy begins to use milk, puts it away as he is told too, tries to ask when his mum is coming back, man changes subject, man notices bruising on boy’s face, says he got into a fight, begins to try to clean the boy up, tells boy he must stand up for himself, boy leaves room, sits on sofa

Man apologises to boy, boy notices gangsters outside, points him out to the man, doesn’t react to the gangster abusing his car, seems distressed himself, gangsters verbally abuse an onlooker, gangster throws stones at the window, tries to intimidate the man, man refrains boy from standing up, boy repeatedly urging his father to do something, car alarm begins to beep, closes blinds, takes his tie off and tries to muster courage to walk out of the door, boy tries to persuade dad to go out (“tell them to fuck off”) – shows language barriers low between father and son, man physically pushes the boy into the other room, says “fuck” also, gangster puts his dick through the letter box, boy opens the door, man hides away, boy walks out into the driveway, man looks on, man ushers the boy inside, man then walks out towards the gangsters, pushes the POV camera out of his face (confirms the low quality camera quality was a gangster filming), man asks gangster to get off his car, pulls his leg, gangster gets off car, man raises his hands in apology, gangster pushes man twice, punches him, gangster begins to dance to a different POV camera again, boy comes out of house and hits gangster in the head (who has his back turned) with a baseball bat, boy violently swings it towards the other gangsters until they run away, the gangster gets up, bleeding, and runs off, man turns off car bleeping, boy offers man the bat, man drops it before he can grasp it, boy walks off into the house with angry expression, slams the door, the man picks up the bat, walks to the front door, goes in and door closes. Credits appear scrolling upwards on screen in white writing, people begin to walk around the street (civilization appears again), they socialise, bike rider goes by, fades to black.

Boy maybe avoided going out to get the milk to avoid the gang?