2005 Great  Independent Film Festival

The Decisive Moment

Category: Narrative Short 13mins:24secs
Director: Andre Lyon

A street photographer has developed a quaint obsession since his son died unexpectedly at age two, nineteen years ago. One day each year he roams the most congested streets of Los Angeles, studying pedestrians through a 300mm zoom lens. He forages the crowd for young strangers of varying ages, kids who look and move just like his son would've looked and moved, he imagines, if he'd lived to age three, four, five, and onward. He photographs his subjects painstakingly (keeping himself unseen at a distance), looking for the one right, immortal shot for each of them, and he enshrines his work in chronological order at home, all out of some vague, uncertain assumption that the hobby helps him hold himself together. This year he's searching for Number 21, and sooner than he expects he zeroes in on the perfect target: an alert, ruthless-looking young professional reading a newspaper. He pursues him across the city, waiting to catch the man in one definitive moment worthy of his collection. Soon, though, the young man feels someone's eyes on him, looks up, notices the photographer on his tail. After a jarring but inevitable confrontation, the photographer is forced to bitterly reevaluate his dangerous fixation.

Principle Cast:

John Harvey (street photographer)
Alon Lagstein (young man)