SLAMDANCE 2021 Premiere – Briefly but bluntly touching on dating, the struggle with identity for persons with physical disabilities, and how these two worlds intersect, short film Single starts out with a bitter tone but ends on one that is sweet and lovely.

With editing that is as inclusive as its casting, Single features audio description which narrates the characters’ actions in real-time for those audience viewers who are hard of hearing. Single is defiantly real, painfully relatable, and well-directed and staged. The banter between the characters felt real and the issues of ableism and love were effortlessly addressed within the context of a unique romantic story.

Starring Delaney Feener as Kim, Single follows a young woman whose lifetime of empty compliments and long stares at her absent forearm have made her resentful of being treated differently. One day she is set up on a blind date by a girlfriend, and upon arriving, discovers that her date, Jake (Jordan Wiseley of The Real World: Portland fame), is also differently-abled, having lost one of his hands. Infuriated by the notion of being pegged as disabled, and therefore, should be relegated to only dating people in a situation similar to hers, Kim sets out to sabotage the date, but not if Jake and a carton of eggs have anything to say about it.

I appreciate director Ashley Eakin keeping the pacing of this film upbeat with interesting tracking shots and bringing such a light and airy sense to the often stigmatized subject of dating while disabled. Unapologetically bringing this topic to the forefront of romantic stories, Single introduces memorable and authentic characters and leaves me wanting to see a lot more from them and this story.

I loved the cynical, fierce character of Kim, whose performance was both endearing and educational in expressing the effects of ableism. This is the kind of romantic movie made for the cynics, those who prefer Punch Drunk Love (2002) or Buffalo 66 (1998) over trivial romantic comedies with nothing to say–Single is the opposite of those trite forays into love and hits right in the self-love and acceptance feels while saying f*ck you to those who’d use the disabled community to feed their own self-righteousness.

Single screened at the 2021 SLAMDANCE film festival

7.25 out of 10