Slash FF review: Old Goat (2025)
Slash Film Festival
Fantastic Shorts Competition
Of all the horrors a person can experience, the one of getting old is probably the most relatable. If some other does not kill us accidentally or on purpose, getting old is our destiny, for better or for worse. Usually, for the worse, but the trickiest thing is that our horror will also be transferred to our loved ones who will succeed us. The horror of getting old and dealing with a loved one getting old stands at the centre of Teddy Alvarez-Nissen’s short film Old Goat. Slash Film Festival in Vienna hosted its European Premiere.
The key metaphor of the film is given already in the title. It is a superficial, yet cheeky one: the beloved grandfather has lost all of his human traits and has completely turned into a goat. While the father and the mother (played by Matt and Meg Gallagher) are debating what to do next regarding the care for him, the situation takes its toll on their daughter (Teresa Bascle) whose bond with her grandfather is never directly communicated, but it is visibly firm.
To Alvarez-Nissen’s credit, in his own script, he resisted throwing low blows as the title and the metaphorical potential of it suggest. Simply put, the grandpa goat is too old to be horny as the animal supposedly is. On the other hand, the grandpa’s “animality” is seen through his gluttony. There are a few more witticisms on the filmmaker’s part, from the idyllic hospice centres for the old goats, to the poignant ending that suggests that getting old and “goaty” is never limited to a single generation.
The filmmaker also strives and somewhat manages to maintain a consistent melancholic and moody tone, making the film a fantastic drama rather than a full-blown genre piece. However, he sometimes overplays his hand and starts hammering the point. In this particular case, it is about the melancholic orchestral score by Eric Huang that is ever-present and overused. Yet, on the technical level, the combination of special effects, make-up by Alexa Cantarini, Max and Paul Lee’s puppet work and the discreet visual effects by Justin Nguyen are little marvels, and they can be classified as the highlights of a rather solid film that Old Goat certainly is.
Year:
2025
Runtime:
8’ 41’’
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Directed by:
Teddy Alvarez-Nissen
Written by:
Teddy Alvarez-Nissen
Cast:
Teresa Bascle, Matt Gallagher, Meg Gallagher
Cinematography
by: Zayd Ezzeldine
Editing
by: Charles Garrett
Music
by: Eric Huang
Sound
design by: Ryan Robinson
Production
design by: Elise Schats
Puppets
by: Max Lee, Paul Lee
Make-up
by: Alexa Cantarini
Special
effects by: Alexa Cantarini
Visual
effects by: Justin Nguyen
Colourist:
Nick Lindell-Wright
Produced by:
Claire Loudis, Parker Fenady
Executive
producers: Arielle Friedman, Camila
Grimaldi
Supported by:
The National Youngarts Foundation
