In the case of some boys, love is worth sticking around for awhile. This is just the case we find ourselves in when watching Some Boy’s Don’t Leave. In the short film, we see a young man (Jesse Eisenberg ) stationed in the hallway of the apartment that may have once been shared by himself and another. His denial and unwillingness to accept rejecting seem to push him farther in his attempts to capture the attention of the girl he loves. He appears to be trying to win this young woman (Eloise Mumford) back through being strong and sticking out the cold shoulder she is giving him most of the time.

Throughout repeated visits of friends and others, the boy remains ever vigilant in his post. The only problem with this fact, to put it bluntly, is that he is unwanted. With every encounter they have of the girl coming home or switching rooms she pushes for him to leave. Eventually she even tries to physically remove him. However, most of the time he is ignored and looked over as if a simple inconvenience. Over the days he is there he seems to be waiting for change. The strange part is that he doesn’t even know what that change is that he’s looking for. Maybe he wants the girl to change her mind, or realize what she is giving up. Maybe, he is merely waiting for himself to find comfort and move on himself. No matter what the reason, he waits for some sign or change to tell him it is time to stop waiting.

The time lapses throughout are very well done, with good attention to lighting, and repeated changing of position and arrangement. I especially enjoyed the things he did while she was at work; making his time there seem longer and more tedious, but shows how productive that time was as well. This is amusingly well done on the first day of his waiting when he does everything from eating to writing, reading, and more.

In every scene we also find him bouncing, playing with, or staring at a tennis ball. This ball seems to represents the feelings of the characters. Their emotions seem to be bouncing back and forth between love and indifference for one another. Also his indecisive with when to leave, how to handle the rejection, and what to do with himself, are paralleled with the ball sometimes going out of control and him grasping to regain it again quickly.

Finally, throughout the film we are given many hints as to what is happening. However, we’re never fully aware of what caused the rift between the young man in the hall and the young woman who owns the apartment. Maybe time just changed who they were, or an unsolvable argument. In any case , by the end we find that learning to cope with the completion and separation from something you love is a harsh reality that must be faced eventually.

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About the author

Sarah Sherboneau