SILO: A Sweet and Witty Sci-Fi Short

Silo is a short film made by the filmmaker David Soll and starring Chris Green. Like many short films Silo is a silent piece (without dialogue but not without sound). But unlike many shorts, which like to take a brief and artistic approach to a story, Silo has been made with a clearly structured narrative. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign it tells the tale of a missile silo custodian, Paul. A man who is more interested in his artistic appreciation of the missile than in maintaining the site itself. But, after a bad performance review he commits to doing better. Then just when it seems like things are going well, the missile suddenly disappears.

I must admit I didn’t have high hopes when I began watching Silo. When you hear words like ‘absurdist allegory’ or ‘effable loss’ you suspect that a film is shooting to high, only to inevitably fail. It was because of this slightly high-minded thinking that I was immediately put off by the fast moving narrative and choppy editing. Then I realised what it actually was I watching. Silo isn’t the artistic, philosophical endeavour it wants to be. But what it is, is something even more surprising and brilliant, it’s an entertaining short film.

I’ve watched a fair number of short films and it’s not often that the filmmakers are so ambitious that they will try to pack such a complex narrative into so short a time period (in this case: 12 minutes), and are so successful. The story is quirky and interesting, Paul is an endearing character played effortlessly by Chris Green. The production values for so small a project are very impressive, and while I would have liked a more even hand on the edit and addition of music I was very impressed with what such a small team was able to produce.

Silo could have been slower and the filmmakers could have attempted to imbue it with more meaning, making it more akin to something such as Duncan Jones’ Moon. In fact, this is what I suspected they were trying to do and what has left me confused. Were they trying to make a philosophical piece, and simply missed the mark? Or, for all the talk about ‘meaning’ was this actually the straight forward story they wanted to tell? Either way I’m glad Silo became the film it is. It’s interesting and original, and while it doesn’t possess any meaningful lessons about humanity, it is sweet, witty and above all very entertaining.

What do you think of Silo?

(top image source: Burnside Films)