Don't Move

Plot synopsis:
Timoteo (Sergio Castellitto), a surgeon, gets the shocking news that his fifteen-year-old daughter Angela (Elena Perino) has been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. As she is operated upon, Timoteo looks out of a window to see (or imagines seeing) a woman, her back facing him, proceeding to sit down on a chair in the rain outside. He notices her prominent red heels and turns away in disbelief, indicating he was familiar with them. His subsequent reminiscences about an old affair comprise the remainder of the film.
A subsequent scene shows Timoteo sitting in a bar in an unfamiliar location on a hot day. Italia (Penélope Cruz), a woman of Albanian origin working at the bar and wearing red heels, offers to let him make a seemingly important call from her home. The inebriated Timoteo, having entered her flat, rapes Italia and subsequently he pretends fall in love with her. He learns from her, among other things, she was sexually abused in her childhood by a dress salesman (who is later revealed to be her father). He decides to leave his wife Elsa (Claudia Gerini) and conveys this to Italia but,just as he is about to come clean, he discovers that Elsa is pregnant. Meanwhile, Italia also becomes pregnant with his child. Timoteo, now in a real dilemma, cannot gather the courage to confront Elsa in her condition. Italia, unaware of this, interprets Timoteo's hesitation as a lack of commitment on his part and is heartbroken by this perceived betrayal. Later, Timoteo encounters a seemingly unstable Italia dancing frenziedly outside her house. On his chiding her, Italia tells him agitatedly that she has had their child aborted at a nearby gypsy's,adding bitterly it was for the best as she wouldn't have made a good mother anyway. Greatly disturbed by this development,Timoteo leaves and goes home to his pregnant wife.
Some months later, Timoteo, shopping with his wife who is about to deliver, spots Italia in a crowd and rushes after her in the rain. After catching up with her, he profusely apologises to Italia, asking her forgiveness for all the pain he caused. After reacting violently initially, Italia tells him that she knew now why he could not leave his wife and that she understood. He also learns from her that she would be moving to another town shortly.
Next morning, Timoteo offers to drive Italia down to her new town. During the journey, his feelings for Italia grow stronger and he confesses his desire to marry and settle down with her in the new town. While having dinner, Timoteo marries himself off to Italia and refers to her as "my wife" while speaking to a waitress. That night, he is woken by Italia's screams as she is gripped by unbearable pain in her abdomen. She is rushed to the local hospital, where an ultrasound reveals her belly to be full of blood, indicating a botched abortion. A desperate Timoteo then proceeds to operate on Italia. She dies soon after briefly regaining consciousness.
His recollections are interrupted by a nurse who informs him that his daughter's condition has stabilised. He then visits her with his wife. In the final act, a relieved Timoteo takes out Italia's red shoe, which she had lost on the way to the hospital the day she died, and that the funeral company had refused to put in the closed coffin, and which he had carefully preserved, and kisses it as a gesture of thanks.

Tags: violence, haunting

Review:
A+ special effects, good acting and slightly original idea. While the idea behind Don't Move is nothing special, it is interesting and makes the viewer think a little bit. You can just imagine how difficult it would be to stand perfectly still as if your life depended on it; it's relateable and I feel like that's what makes it feel so unnerving. The fact that you could watch your friend die before your eyes and wouldn't be able to flinch a muscle lest you meet the same fate is terrifying and exactly why I found Don't Move to be such a well-executed short.The acting is decent and the special effects are flawless; albeit the gore is overdone as is the case with most horror shorts (gotta pack a lot into such a brief run-time I suppose). Because of the overdone gore and the fact that the idea is very unoriginal in most aspects, I'm being slightly generous with my mark of 8/10. With camera work, special effects and acting like this, Don't Move could even be considered better than most modern full-length horror flicks.. Great Horror. A low-budget independent film with some spectacular production standards and a well crafted concept. Well written, well produced and well executed. This is a top quality short movie with some production value and a very well directed mini-plot.The 13 minute short "Don't Move" is actually better than the last dozen or so full length horror movies I've watched. The voices volume are kind of lowered in comparison to the score, but the sound effects live out one second to none which result in an excellent surrounding outcome.A Ouija board can somehow be seen as cliché but nevertheless, this is one of the scariest short movies I have ever seen and believe me... I have seen a lot.. Generic little horror movie. "Don't Move" is a British 14-minute horror film from 2 years ago and it's pretty much what one can expect. lots of blood, lots of gore and violence, but unfortunately not really a convincing or interesting story that hasn't been done before. There are some comedic elements like the ending, but it's also not working particularly well from the fun perspective. Fans of the television series "EastEnders" will maybe be shocked watching this one and its lead actress Rachel Bright. The director is Anthony Melton and the writer is David Scullion and it shows that both have not too much experience in the movie industry. But you can also hold this in their favor and hope they manage to step it up with their next projects. "Don't Move" is a film where I say: Don't watch.