Like a good short story, a well crafted short film can really pack a punch. Unlike features, which often have the luxury of a couple of hours to set the scene, establish a tone, animate characters and tell a story, a short film must get the job done in (generally) less than 40 minutes. With his trio of debut shorts, British journalist-turned-director Neville Pierce skillfully manages to do it all in under 11 minutes each.

Bricks

In Bricks, the scene is the basement of posh rich-boy William (Blake Ritson), who gets a bricklaying lesson from the earthy Clive (Jason Flemyng), hired to renovate the wine cellar.  Clive is clearly dismissive of his effete employer, who doesn’t know one type of trowel from another. “You people and your money,” he sneers at one point. They seem to bond over a nice glass of Rioja, but things soon turn horrific. Great acting (especially from Ritson, creepy as hell); understated, unsettling music and quiet direction make for a chilling update of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.”

Ghosted

Ghosted, a charming, offbeat, black-and-white film, has quite a different vibe, though it too has a slightly surreal quality. Widowed artist Rebecca (Alice Lowe) suffers through a series of lackluster first dates, as the charismatic ghost of her late husband Nigel (Christian Anholt) looks on, wisecracking and generally getting in the way. Though he seems to be trying to help, we learn that he was far from an ideal mate, and in fact expired while cheating on his wife. When Rebecca finally meets someone she clicks with, Nigel slowly fades into the background. The film ends on a sweet, surprisingly poignant note; a happy resolution that doesn’t feel saccharine.

Lock In

In Lock In, a landlord (Tim McInnerny) and his pregnant daughter (Lucy Boynton) are closing up their pub, when an angry stranger, Jimmy (Nicholas Pinnock), pushes in, clearly up to no good. “I’m an old friend of your dad’s,” he tells Lucy, though her father professes otherwise. Meanwhile two accomplices wait outside, preventing escape. “Do you know why your dad stopped teaching?,” Jimmy asks and we immediately know the answer. Tension mounts as the distraught intruder levels accusations, all denied by dad. As Lucy calls the police, Jimmy recalls a song that changes everything.

Speaking of worthwhile shorts, HBO NOW is currently streaming the five finalists of the 2017 American Black Film Festival’s HBO Short Film Competition, in honor of Black History Month:

Amelia’s Closet

• Competition winner Amelia’s Closet, written and directed by Halima Lucas, is about a young girl who steals from her classmates in retaliation for being bullied, before her father teaches her how to handle the situation.
• Kenrick Prince’s Gema concerns a woman who struggles emotionally with the idea of meeting her fiancé’s parents for the first time.
• The realities of life for a father and son in the declining fishing town of Plaquemines, Louisiana, is the subject of Nailah Jefferson’s Plaquemines.
• See You Yesterday, directed by Stefon Bristol and co-written with Fredrica Bailey, is about two Brooklyn teenage scientists who build a time machine to stop a police killing.
• A teen’s long-held secret resulting from obsessive love with her brother’s best friend is the subject of Dionne Edwards’s We Love Moses.

Neville Pierce’s trilogy of shorts will premiere on Vimeo on February 5, after which they’ll screen on YouTube’s Tall Tales channel (Lock In: Feb. 6; Ghosted: Feb. 13; Bricks: later in 2018).

The American Black Film Festival shorts competition finalists are streaming on HBO NOW during the month of February.

—Marina Zogbi