Best short film of the last three years is streaming on Netflix

It is not what you expect. To be honest, maybe even the people wanting a sequel to Brokeback Mountain, an excellent fill worthy of awards, should have had higher hopes. The issue is that the short film now streaming on Netflix called Strange Way of Life never tried to be anything that it wasn't.

The 31-minute film produced by El Deseo and Saint Laurent is about two former lovers, one now the father of a criminal, and the other now a sheriff bound to track the criminal down, who find each other after decades because of a negative situation. They certainly have not forgotten one another, nor are they able to hide their feelings toward one another.

But the film is so much more than that. It is about family connections and the strength of obligation even in the face of knowing what is right and wrong.

Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal help turn Strange Way of Life into a masterpiece of acting

Pedro Pascal plays Silva, the father of the criminal that Jake, played by Ethan Hawke, is trying to find and arrest. Only Silva does not want to see his son, Joe, played by George Steane, taken into custody. What father would? Still, Jake and Silva had a very serious relationship decades before, and the emotions are still raw.

Jake and Silva spend a night together (this is not a spoiler as it is kind of expected heading into the film), but the storyline does not revolve around their re-connecting. It is more about allegiances. And yet, the whole film, directed by the excellent Pedro Almodóvar, mostly intertwines between the two leads, Pascal and Hawke.

The choosing of those two as the leads was brilliant. Neither has the ego of someone like Russell Crowe that would imply that one role was bigger than the other. Hawke and Rascal know they are equals and know they must play off one another to help the film be successful.

Both give and take, both take turns with important moments, just like the characters themselves. Maybe some are not ready for Hawke and Pascal to challenge the viewer in the way they do, but we should. Great art is great art no matter the subject. Luckily, if one chooses, a subscriber can connect with the film now streaming on Netflix however they like. Thankfully, one is also guaranteed to respect what they see.

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