SIMON | Omeleto

A man answers a desperate call.


SIMON is used with permission from Peter J. McCarthy and Ben Conway. Learn more at take10film.com/.


Simon's day begins in an ordinary way, waking up drowsily as a woman leaves his bed at his beach house. He gets a phone call and ignores it, but his phone rings again. When Simon answers it, it's his brother Owen, driving in a car with his daughter Ella in the backseat.

Owen is having a crisis, but Simon has seen this before and talks him through it. But as Owen continues to spiral, Simon realizes that Owen's crisis has escalated into a mental breakdown -- and Simon must get through to his brother as best as he can.

Directed by Peter J. McCarthy and Ben Conway from a script written by Conway, this intense short drama is a tightly wrought snapshot of a man on the sidelines as his brother unravels. As its premise plays out, it becomes a devastating portrait of an acute mental health crisis, particularly as experienced by men.

The intensity is built partly through its long, uninterrupted takes, as a restless, roving camera follows an increasingly agitated Simon through an isolated, raw beachside setting, as he tries to manage his brother on the other line on the phone. After an initially quiet beginning, there's little room to breathe as Simon and the audience are propelled into a quicker, more agitated tempo, as Simon tries to catch up with Owen's crisis.

Much of the tension is built by the dense, suspenseful torrent of dialogue, brought to life by vivid and precise performances by actors Aaron Monaghan and Mark Lawrence, as Simon and Owen, respectively. As they first talk, we get a sense that Simon is used to Owen's panic and anxiety, as he talks Owen through. But as the call wears on, Owen's panic is something more, and most dangerously, he's behind the wheel with his crying infant daughter. Simon soon realizes that this is more than an average panic attack for Owen, and Monaghan's performance conveys this quickening of anxiety and fear, along with the growing helplessness he feels as he realizes he may be too late and too far away to help his brother.

SIMON ends with a heart-pounding, devastating conclusion, its memorable final moments suffused with distraught grief as raw as the film's visual landscape. There are no easy answers at the end of the narrative, and we are left to wonder whether or not Simon should have called emergency services -- as is often recommended for situations like these -- or if it would've made a difference. We wonder what could lead a man to this breaking point, and what support he could have been given. Simon and viewers will likely keep playing the phone call in their minds, questioning what else could have been done. But hopefully, it also opens up larger and much-needed conversations about mental health, support and awareness.