By Alyson Powers
@m1sspowers
I read an article recently in Thought Catalog and a quote. “Damaged people, damaged people.” Or… they use them or subtly abuse them, or yes, beat them. Jessica’s direction focuses on the silence (ironically) and the blur of time passing with an abusive partner. Do people allow abuse because they see their significant other’s damage and love them enough to try and save them? Or is it a lack of self-regard? Maybe it’s both.
Most are aware of this faux pas: certain topics at the dinner table are forbidden as to not disturb a time meant for peace and a place where people are momentarily detained. What a painfully beautiful decision then to use the dinner table as its setting. It shakes the perfect crossroads between love and warmth and a most unsettling discomfort when trapped by disruption in a space that is, by rule, meant to deliver a safe place for connection. In a non-rule-breaking world, relationships should be a safe place too.
Listen is sad but poignant— a micro view of abusive partners. How they can slip by unnoticed. Maybe if we *listen, we can recognize an abuser before allowing the abuse to happen.
I met Jessica at the Women Texas Film Festival and cannot wait to see her next project.
