From Writer Director Daniel Keeble (War of Birds, Split Check) comes ‘Alleviate’ , a fourteen minute short film starring Darren Kent (Game of Thrones) as Michael and Lulu Cook (Curiosity) as Katherine,

Alleviate is the story of a grieving man (played by Darren) who blames himself for the accidental death of his child. Isolated and consumed with guilt through the fourteen minute film we witness the tortured soul of Michael as tries to come to terms with what has happened in his life. There are two ways to watch this film. 1, is to watch the short film knowing nothing at all about the cast of Alleviate. 2, which is the way I saw the film is to know that you are watching one of the last onscreen performances of the late Darren Kent who passed away in 2023 at the young age of 36. I was familiar with much of Darren’s work having seen him work his way through projects over the years, Game of Thrones, My Feral Heart, EastEnders, Happy Hours, and Love Without Walls to name just a few of his appearances. I also knew him (online) for a while and he was such a lovely guy. He is missed. So it was so strange, surreal and yet also wonderful to see a film that I hadn’t seen before today that had Darren Kent in and its also a little heartbreaking to say that this is perhaps his best work. Whilst Alleviate does have two cast members, this is pretty much Darren’s film. The entire story sits on his shoulders and his performance is perfection.  For those who knew Darren, you will of course check this film out when you can, and it will tug at your heart strings. For those who didn’t know Darren, I still highly recommend this film as its a great example of how a single character and single onscreen performance can carry a film. They often say that acting is reacting, but Michael is alone in his flat and there are no other characters to react with. Now THATS acting!  

Of course praise also needs to go to Daniel, the writer director of Alleviate who has done a fantastic job at guiding and delivering this film to the finish line and along with a touching music score by Ashton Moore, and cinematography by Mark McCarthy. Alleviate has done in fourteen minutes, what many feature films don’t manage to do. Build a world, show me character, showcase emotion and leave a lasting impression in my mind long after the credits have finished and faded to black.  Darren, You are gone too soon but Alleviate will touch hearts and keep you going.