The apocalypse has always been a fertile topic for art, but with each passing day it begins to feel less like an abstract fantasy and more like an impending inevitability. Far from being a hot take or an alarmist viewpoint, the steady drumbeat of “our world is ending” isn’t so much catastrophic revelation as it is a pervassive, omnipresent anxiety that permeates our collective unconscious. The question isn’t so much if the end times will come about soon but which grotesque vision of the future will we be treated to as we usher in the denouemont of the human race? What seemingly impossible reality will we look back on as eeirly prophetic? The Road? Mad Max? The Matrix? 1984?

Canary never spells it out directly, but doesn’t need to as there are enough allusions to the clearly supernatural origin of the hellish new reality the characters are living in. For Alan (Barron Leung) things have found a way to get even worse as he finds himself trapped in a remote cabin where the only other survivors are three assholes who bully him mercilessly.

With such a high concept idea, it would be easy to overextend the modest resources of this independent short but director Taka Tsubota wisely chooses to take the all too infrequent approach of actually understanding how to work within the limitations of his available budget. This less-is-more philosophy works wonderfully here as Tsubota pulls off genuine tension with some excellent camera work and world-building without exposition dumps. The acting chops of some of the supporting cast aren’t quite where I’d like them to be but overall it’s a good story, well told, that fits perfectly into its runtime.

Availability: Unavailable

The film recently played at the LA Shorts film festival on 7/24/23 but does not currently have an official release date at time of review. Visit takatsubota.com for updates and further info.