The Neighbor’s Window (2019)

Marshall Curry’s Oscar Winning live action short has a similar set up to the feature length The Woman in the Window. In this film both apartment windows are devoid of blinds, drapes, or curtains. But the voyeur is not a lone woman, nor is there murderer and police. The short film begins like a comedy but ends with a scene of compassion that is deeply moving.

Alli (Maria Dizzia) and Jacob (Greg Keller) are parents with two lively young children and a third on the way. Thy are tired at the end of the day, and Jacob is not always the best of helpers in caring for the kids.

They cannot avoid seeing the young couple (Juliana Canfield and Bret Lada) who have moved in across the street joyously engage in frequent sex. Plus, they entertain friends for dinners and dance parties, whereas they have to tend to the quotidian duties of feeding and caring for their kids—and this includes diaper changing when their third child arrives. They look at their own relationship and compare their situation somewhat unfavorably to the care-free couple, arguing over the situation. The baby is born, and impacts their lives, though they keep watching their neighbors. Alli especially seems obsessed by them.

Then they notice changes in the envied couple’s situation. The man’s head has been shaved. Then he is confined to his bed. A man visits him, leaves, and the wife sits on the bed with her lover. Sometime later while Jacob is out at the zoo and Natural History museum with the children, giving Alli some down time for herself. She takes a relaxing bath, after which she spies two men wheeling a gurney through the neighbor’s apartment. The men exit the building to load the body in a van, the young pajama-clad wife following. Throwing on her bathrobe, Alli, rushes downstairs and crosses the street. She watches from a distance as the young widow stands staring at the van taking away her husband’s body. Then she walks up to her and they engage in conversation. What she learns comes as a surprise, one that will forever change her view, indeed, her appreciation of her own life. The view from above turns out to be two ways.

Though brief, this little film packs far more of an emotional wallop than the feature film reviewed elsewhere in this issue, The Woman in the Window. It is short enough to view and discuss in a young adult class/group, no doubt leading to a new appreciation of one’s own ordinary life.

Click onto the title to view this film YouTube. This review will be in the May issue of VP along with a set of questions for reflection and/or discussion. If you have found reviews on this site helpful, please consider purchasing a subscription or individual issue in The Store.