A Little Glass of Rum has lofty ambitions. While thoughtfully framed, shot, and paced, director Carah Chafin’s true endeavor lies in the interaction and dialogue between characters. As such, the short film format is a perfect cinematic roundtable. And indeed, the screenplay by Lauren Keller is a gripping dissection of wrongdoing and the philosophy surrounding it.
Stan Ailor (Stuart Ford) has a perfect life. He has a loving wife (Jennifer Louise), a young son (Lucas Morris-Steele), and a 9-to-5 working as a security guard at the local prison. One night, the unimaginable happens: an unknown assailant, Kenneth (Nick Mitchell), breaks into Stan’s house and kills his family. Three years later, the murderer is on death row, and Stan has one final opportunity to face his family’s killer as the two dine together for Kenneth’s last meal.

“…Stan has one final opportunity to face his family’s killer as the two dine together for Kenneth’s last meal.”
Even before A Little Glass of Rum settles into its dialectic core, it utilizes clean, composed cinematography as a vehicle for the plot. The characters are captured in meticulous frames, telling parts of the story. Excellent audio work only adds to the strength of the aesthetic composition.
Once the central conversation between Stan and the killer begins, the narrative becomes hypnotic. This allows for a compelling and weighty conversation between the two lead actors. However, it is also here that the film stutters. Since so much of the plot is embedded in this exchange, the conversation thematically demands that it bring the viewer to a final revelation. But there is none. The conversation as a whole is deliberately opaque, both philosophically and narratively.
But this is no death knell as A Little Glass of Rum is still a highly polished and astutely rendered work. It has confidence. It has poise. It has intelligence. But, like the conversation that drives it, it falls just short of realizing its ambitions.