Welcome To The World

Albert M. Chan’s Welcome to the World may only be seven minutes long, but it will stay with you for a lifetime.

It’s a short that doesn’t pull its punches. Director and Actor, Chan (The Commitment (Short), 30 Rock (TV)), is the troubled man that backs into shot and takes up his position at the foot of his bed. His room is flooded with light and the dressers either side of his unmade bed are busy with everyday things. He’s recording a message for his sister, who is about to become a mother.

Chan gives a gripping, heartfelt and sincere performance which plunges you into the murky waters of modern humanity and masculinity before you get to glimpse the surface light again.

The confessional style one-shot sits you at the foot of your own bed. It’s almost as if you could reach out your hands and place them over Chan’s as he speaks to you. How he squeezes so much raw emotion into a single shot makes this the best possible way to spend—and put into perspective—the next seven minutes of your life.

Life is both cruel and beautiful; it’s what we all have to face when we’re welcomed into the world.