J. Michael Vargas depicts love found and love lost.

I find myself drawn more and more to short films to review rather than feature length films.

They pack a lot of substance in a small package.

And, they help me appreciate the art of making a short film.

Think about it—you have to tell a story in under 30 minutes—a story that viewers will understand and identify with, all without the benefit of knowing the characters backgrounds. We meet them at a point in time, and we have to use our imaginations to create our own back story.

However, “Empty Sky” is a short film that I would like to have had a bit more back story on in order to understand why the girls in the story have ended up where they are.

It’s the story of Samantha McDonnell (Maiara Walsh, who has the most mesmerizingly beautiful blue eyes!) and Taylor Pershing (Sarah Kathleen Rosen). Samantha moves to the small town where Taylor lives in her senior year in high school.  (Why would anyone move in their child’s senior year?

Why would her parents want to disrupt her life like that?) She is a pianist who has already been accepted to the Berklee School of Music in Boston after graduation. Samantha plays Clair de Lune throughout the film, a hauntingly beautiful piece of music that fits well with the story.

Taylor is from a well to do family. We meet her mother, Donna (Cindy Morgan), who has Samantha over frequently for dinner.

From her conversation with Samantha, you can tell she approves of her ambition and desire to go to music school. You can also detect that she is less than pleased with Taylor who has no plans after high school. As Samantha and Taylor become closer, Donna accidentally sees them making love one afternoon in Taylor’s bedroom. (If you don’t want to be discovered, you should close the door all the way!)

To say she is less than thrilled is an understatement! You will have to watch the film to find out what happens and to discover why the film is called “Empty Sky”.  Enjoy!