If you are a creative of any sort, you'll likely recognize writer/director Lada Kopytova's 10-minute student short Blueprint. We discover our inspiration in the world around us, the issues that matter to us, and the lovers who bring pleasure to us. Such is the case with Cass (Ella Maisy Purvis), a young screenwriter who thrives in the presence of Ezra (Baxter Westby). Theirs is a relationship of great pleasure and great inspiration. 

Until it is not. 

Blueprint displays promise for Kopytova, whose vivid imagination comes to life here in telling the brief but meaningful story of a couple whose incompatibility seems both inevitable and disruptive. Purvis's Cass is initially inspired by this new love, however, once the monotony of ordinary relationship sets in and thrills are replaced by the mundane she begins to crave more even as the relationship spirals toward its inevitable conclusion. 

Westby's Baxter, on the flip side, refuses to simply be a muse and turns away as he begins to realize he may be nothing more than a character. 

Blueprint captured the Court Metrage at Festival Courts d'un soir and has snagged several other award nominations early in its festival journey. For sure it's a student short, however, one can't help but admire Kopytova's creative eye and sense of storytelling. Scott Highmoor's original score aids the film's narrative rhythm and Liam Ihde's lensing vividly captures the story's intimacy and its disintegration. 

It's always a gift to capture an up-and-coming filmmaker and it'll be a joy to see Kopytova's work in the future. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic