Trailing closely behind a young boy as he attempts to score something to feed his younger brother, Brian Lawes’ short film, Lost Kings, is a modest little suspense thriller examining the desperation that comes with poverty and difficult position these siblings find themselves in. Our protagonist, residing in a bare-minimum apartment, starts this film by putting on a pot of boiling water and quickly realizing that he hasn’t a crumb to cook. He sets off with his bike and backpack to find a solution, eventually coming across a vacant house in an upper-middle-class neighbourhood that presents a way in and maybe some instant noodles that he can snag. The family of this house quickly returns home, however, and the young boy is forced into hiding with only a narrow hope of escaping.

Lawes’ film isn’t your instantly recognizable cat-and-mouse-style thriller. It swaps out the nighttime setting typical of films in this genre for the familiarity of the midday sun – shadowy corners and dark corridors for brightly lit suburban comfort. Much of the film actually takes on the appearance of some life insurance commercial, its arena being the refined but otherwise anonymous and non-threatening white homestead. But other techniques are used to increase feelings of claustrophobia and distress – mainly, the director’s use of close-up and shallow focus. These techniques keep the setting blurred and slightly unfamiliar, and keep us guessing right alongside the boy as he evades the family. The score is also barely there, Lawes replacing menacing chords with the usually welcome sounds of birds chirping and trees rustling, and doing a fantastic job at making us squirm in the familiarity mentioned earlier.

That being said, the under-developed aspects of this film — such as the character of the young boy himself — can keep you from fully investing or truly empathizing in the gut-wrenching suspense. Even cutting back to the boiling pot of water—which the boy left on at the film’s beginning—could have helped raise the stakes in the mind of the viewer. But Lawes has gone on record saying he intends this film to be proof of concept for a feature-length picture, so it is clear that he one-day hopes to flesh-out the world established here and imply fiercer consequences. For now, what he accomplishes with Lost Kings is clear proof of his competence as a burgeoning director. Likewise, it is a story brimming with potential for social commentary on the still prevalent inequality and desperation in America.

Lost Kings was screened as part of the 16th annual HollyShorts Film Festival, which runs online from November 9th until November 16th. It screened earlier this year at the Calgary International Film Festival, the Edmonton International Film Festival, and the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.