What's Virgin Mean? (2008) Online

I stumbled across this little gem today and was instantly compelled to write something about it. No more than a couple of minutes long, but right on the money, this is the perfect example of what making a good short is all about.

There's a Cute kid in Rebecca Duffy playing the questioning daughter and a beautifully thought through performance by Kate Islitt who plays the mother.

Along with this, it's a very well written piece and is shot really well. It's cutting is tidy and captures the timing of the comedy. Well done Michael Davies hope to see more of your work.

A woman cooks while her young daughter does her colouring in at the table. All is well until the daughter pipes up to ask her mother what "virgin" means. What follows is essentially a middle-class mother with some sexual repression and nerves when it comes to "the talk", trying to explain to her daughter about what happens when a man and a woman take their special things and put them together. The punch-line at the end of the short film is pretty obvious but it works because the film leading up to this moment works as well as it does.

The mother (very well played by Isitt) starts out with a real comic awkwardness and is a small bundle of nerves and then gets a bit more passionate about the subject until she perhaps has more going on in her head than she is saying out loud. It is very funny to watch as an idea but Isitt is the reason it works because she transforms from being so nervous at the start of the film to pretty much having a flush on by the end – this makes the gag work so well and it is a great little comic performance. Duffy is solid in support and plays the "straight-man" role well but ultimately this is what she is here for (and the punch-line).

No more than a sketch perhaps but it is still an amusing little short film that benefits greatly from Isitt nailing the delivery.

The basic problem is to defining it. Difficult if you are parent and same questions are the challenges from your child. After the familiar details, you admire the impecable script, the beautiful performances, the nuances of dialogue and, sure, the voices. It is a magnificent work and the twist , not original but wise used, is perfect. A lesson about a very delicate problem. And the emotion of mother speaking about the miracle of life is amazing, amusing, charming, great. Short, one of films who you feel in profound manner. As lovely embroidery of emotions.