With a title this generic, you can be forgiven for not knowing what The After is. However, it means you aren’t paying attention to the list of Oscar nominees, because this one is nominated for Best Short, and it feels like we are really starting to use this category as a sleeper way for people to easily get accolades. This is on Netflix, with audio description, and it has David Oyelowo as the lead.

It’s in contention with another Netflix backed short film, The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, which is directed by Wes Anderson and stars Oscar nominees like Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes. It really does seem like we are stacking the short film deck against unknown filmmakers looking for a break.

This stars Oyelowo as a father who suffers an unimaginable tragedy and then becomes a ride share driver. I don’t have a problem with the story, but it lacks the depth to truly be able to uncover what it wants from its character. Everything seems to happen so fast, and the emotional weight is tossed around in a somewhat lacking manner. The affecting tragedy is so random and happens so quickly that we barely have time to process before Oyelowo is driving people around. The grief, the ability to come to terms with it, it just needs more room to breathe. It might be about the “after”, in the way we move on from tragedy, but it would have been able to explore that in greater detail as a feature.

The audio description isn’t problematic, but even it seems to be caught mostly off guard by the more shocking revelations early on. Sudden is the best word I can come up with. however, if you are checking Oscar nominees off your list, this is easily accessible on the biggest streaming platform.

Final Grade: B