Review: It’s Nice In Here

My mother used to tell me there are three sides to ever story. There’s one side, then the other, then there’s the truth. Oftentimes popular social media trends like #MeToo and #BLM can feature a number of plot holes in not just the movements but the holes in stories told throughout. The trial featuring Amber Heard and Johnny Depp became a stark reminder of what happens when companies and PR agencies jump to conclusion before hearing all of the facts.

For the most part, the quarter-hour short film entitled It’s Nice In Here, directed by Robert-Jonathan Koeyers stays very much in the “fact-finding, leave the answer up to the audience” point of view, which I appreciate. The film doesn’t take sides, it just presents both cases, with journalistic integrity that is rare nowadays. Presented with an animated aesthetic featuring characters that look like they can be ripped right out of the world of Daria, we talk to two witnesses to an apparent shooting at a local convenience store.

We’re introduced to Imani, a young black girl who is good friends with the victim, and rookie police officer David, both who have fragmented, but different, takes on what happened when one Crimson Red seemingly walks into uncertain death. Described as a visual poem, Koeyers displays all of the gritty details, but doesn’t editorialize anybody’s story, and instead presents both sides as straightforward as he can, which is horrifying enough without all of the extra fat that some may do to pad the millennial viewer stats.

Although titled It’s Nice In Here, clearly the short film is anything but pretty, but neither are the streets. Being a police officer has to be the toughest job in the world, clearly, this David kid was not trained enough for the gig. However, it’s also tough being a young black man in America, and unwarranted violence against them needs to stop.