Cells Season 2, available to stream on YouTube.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
When we reviewed the first season of Cells – P Burton-Morgan and Ben Glasstone’s musical short film – it was in the context of last year’s Covid-19 lockdowns. The film proved to be a delightful musical distraction. Now theatres and all manner of other entertainment venues are available to us again, will the second instalment be as engrossing?
After deliberately choosing not to refresh myself on the plot of the original, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all the story and relationships from the first film came flooding back within the first couple of minutes – a real testament to the great characters this team has created. Lem Knights’ young student is nervously attempting to rebuild a relationship with his estranged father (Clive Rowe). The father feels a great connection to his son but is wracked with guilt about their years apart.
A brilliant new addition is Natalie Hope, who plays Knights’ mother. She gets the entire opening number to herself and does a superb job exploring the humour and heartbreak of a professional cleaner who must also clean for themselves in an empty home. Original cast members Knights and Rowe remain on top form, and both are utterly charming in their roles. Vocal performances are just as excellent as last time around, if not better.
Compared to the dependably dramatic premise of a parent-child reunion that dominated the first film, this second season is somewhat more subdued narratively. The three plan a dinner, then eventually eat the dinner. However, the extra space in the story allows Burton-Morgan and Glasstone to slow down and focus on the core strength of the first film: the excellent character work of the actors and the detailed songs that allow such charismatic and true-to-life performances. The film is only 26 minutes long and it absolutely zips by as you are engrossed in these characters’ tribulations.
As with the first film, the music is simply and elegantly arranged for a small band, which works perfectly for a film of this scale. The songs carry enough energy to keep the pace moving and gloss over the limitations of single camera editing, but Glasstone isn’t afraid to slow the tempo down to explore the more emotional moments. Those quieter and introspective moments are perhaps the highlights of the piece. Listening over headphones, there are moments of lesser audio quality – particularly in the group number vocals – but considering these are live performances there is nothing too objectionable.
In all, this second helping of Cells is a delightful escape from everyday life into a place that is a touch more musical and magical, yet still recognisably real. The fact these characters and this story are as engrossing now as they were a year ago when there was literally nothing else to do is of great credit to the brilliant writing team and the stars themselves. I am very much looking forward to part three, whenever it comes.
Ian Bowkett
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