Review of Two Distant Strangers

 Two Distant Strangers is the best use of a narrative structure to convey an idea maybe ever

You probably missed it because it’s a short film and they don’t get much fanfare. I almost did too. And rarely do I ever throw my full unconditional weight behind a film like I do Two Distant Strangers. But really, you all should go watch this right now. I don’t know all of you well, but if you’re reading this, I already know you well enough to determine it is worth a half hour of your time.

I am usually a champion of the narrative. It annoys me when a movie’s message gets in the way of the narrative. I understand that you occasionally need to sacrifice meter for rhyme and vice versa, but if you break character to drive home a point, it’s annoying. Two Different Strangers is the best use of a narrative structure to convey a concept possibly ever.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Every time a black person is killed by a white cop in America, the same thing happens. Condolences, outrage, protests, and then it slowly fades away. After all, it didn’t happen to us. I’ve even heard some use the phrase “It’s like Groundhog Day.” So that’s exactly what they did. And when it started, I thought I was going to have to go on another diatribe about how everybody should watch Replay, the episode from the new Twilight Zone, even though you can’t because who the heck has CBS All Access? And Two Different Strangers basically said “Thanks, Jordan. Replay was a hell of a first draft. But we got it from here.”

It follows a black man just trying to get back home to his dog as he is killed by the same white cop time and time again. And when it finally looks like he’s gotten through to the cop by talking to him and he’s going to make it, the episode proves to have the same guts the song its title references has in its third act. In Tupac’s Changes – possibly the most influential rap song of all time – there is a bridge which slows down the song with some soft spoken words of hope overtop of a couple almost-ethereal sounding background singers soothing us into believing it was all going to work out. “And still I see no changes…” And the beat picks right back up from where it left off. I didn’t think a film could carry the weight that Changes demands, but they are perfect compliments to each other.

The final act of Two Distant Strangers gives us exactly the same thing. The cop is also in the same time loop. Narratively, this was perfect, as we realize that this cop knew the whole time – or at least after the first couple replays – that he could kill this black man with impunity because when you live the same day over and over, there are no consequences. Allegorically, this says that police know they don’t have to be accountable for killing black men because there are no consequences for it. Rarely do you see that kind of marriage of form to content, maybe never. Yes, the movie lacks subtlety, but perhaps this is a message that necessitates a little less subtlety.

Two Distant Strangers, starring Joey Bada$$, Zaria Simone, and Andrew Howard, directed by Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, and produced by (among others) Puff Daddy, Kevin Durant, and Mike Conley, won the Oscar for the Best Live Action Short Film four days after Derek Chauvin was convicted of George Floyd’s murder.