HARD TO REACH | Omeleto

An anxious mentor and his rebellious teen student get into an altercation on a train.
HARD TO REACH is used with permission from Darryl Foster. Learn more at linktr.ee/thisisdarrylfoster.
It's 2010 and the last day of school before summer. Morey, an anxious mentor struggling with a flagging sense of purpose and motivation, picks up his mentee, Jackson, for a photography trip. Jackson is disruptive, rebellious and prone to violence. Just getting him to the train station is a struggle for Morey, who is already edgy enough.
That tension only intensifies when they finally get on the train. Jackson has a confrontation with another passenger, and in a panic, both him and Morey flee the station. With nowhere else to go, they wander into a nearby forest, where they openly face one another -- and themselves -- in a cathartic exchange that changes them forever.
Directed and written by Darryl Foster, who also plays the lead role of Morey, this powerful short drama is about a personal and spiritual collision between two men that offers them a way to find a deeper connection, both to themselves and with one another. They seem to be at loggerheads with one another, at different life stages and with different concerts. Morey is supposed to be the experienced mentor, but he struggles with anxiety and existential malaise. Jackson seems like a typical rebellious teen that is in danger of going down the wrong path, but he's also searching for a sense of acceptance underneath the anger.
Their conflict comes to the fore in a spectacularly explosive moment on the train. The well-constructed, precise storytelling builds up character and motivation up to this off-the-rails moment, and after it happens, there's enough genuine suspense raised that we wonder what other violence will follow it. But the narrative pivots into a different, odder yet more satisfying direction, as the mentor and the student escape into an enclave of secluded nature. In doing so, they seem to shed the psychological, cultural and social weight and genuinely engage with one another, through art and companionship.
This more delicate arc is finely drawn with performances by both Foster and actor Cory McClane, who both offer complex, multi-dimensional portrayals that feel authentic, lived-in and real. At the beginning to the story, both feel oppositional to one another, but more importantly, both are also isolated in their separate emotional planes. They don't respond to one another as people, but as projections or obligations. But when they finally see one another, it takes the film into a deeply humane direction, leading to both connection and catharsis.
Unexpected, compelling and shot with a poetic naturalism, HARD TO REACH is based on Foster's own experiences as a mentor to at-risk youth, which may explain the depth and emotional complexity the film possesses in portraying the student-teacher relationship. Though their respective lessons may be different -- Jackson learns his inner world and his worth, while Morey finds satisfaction and purpose -- they are better for their connection with each other, coming to a place of mutual respect and understanding.