[Cinepocalypse 2019 Short Film Review] Re-Home

Izzy Lee’s latest short film Re-Home had its showing at Cinepocalypse 2019, attached to Gigi Saul Guerrero’s “Culture Shock” episode of Hulu’s Into the Dark series. I couldn’t think of a better companion piece to this episode of Into the Dark and not only because it stars the director of “Culture Shock.”

Maria (Gigi Saul Guerrero) stands outside of a gated house, clutching her baby in her arms while whisper-cooing “Cielito lindo” into her ears. Her eyes are tear-filled because she’s made the uncomfortable decision to “re-home” her child to this up-and-coming company called Future Horizons. But she’s not completely sure if it’s the right decision.

Written, directed and produced by Izzy Lee, Re-Home is a depressingly topical horror story for today. The owners of Future Horizons, Matt (Morgan Peter Brown) and Laura (Kasey Lansdale) talk about The Wall and how dire it is out there, “especially for you people.” And while Maria protests and says she’s American, “It’s okay. You don’t have to pretend with me,” Laura responds, with a wink. “We’re allies.”

This idea of allies is what really sells the dark story being told here. While I can’t possibly understand the horrors that Latinx people deal with on a daily basis, I can relate to the fear in the loaded word, “ally.” As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, we are forced to rely on allies to help us in the same way any minority group has to. It’s a quixotic concept and one you sometimes have to take at face value because you have no other options. The implicit fear in that term, particularly around strangers, is deftly examined in Re-Home. Izzy utilizes the idea of allies in the same way that Get Out mined it with the phrase, “I would have voted for Obama for a third term, if I could.”

With allies like this, who needs enemies?