A man inherits a storage unit.


RESTORAGE is used with permission from E'an Verdugo. Learn more at https://eanverdugo.com.


A fractious group of siblings are gathered together after the death of their father for the reading of the will. Young and hotheaded Robert inherits the business empire, while level-headed Lisa receives the estate and a cherished family heirloom. But the black sheep of the family, Chase, gets nothing but a dusty old storage unit.

Furious at being left out of the spoils, Chase is resentful and fights with Robert, inadvertently cracking the family heirloom, much to Lisa's deep hurt and anger. Chase only gets more upset when he discovers the storage unit holds nothing but a box full of junk, thwarting his hopes that he was left something of value. But soon he discovers the storage unit has a special power -- it can magically repair what's been broken. With that, Chase hopes he can fix some of the damage with his brother and sister -- and prove to his brother and sister that he's not the black sheep they see him as.

Directed by E'an Verdugo from a script co-written with Caleb Davis, this dramedy short is a bit of magic realism, a bit of family drama and a whole lot of emotionally resonant fun. All of it rests on a foundation of smart, witty writing, polished and dynamic visuals and terrifically drawn characters. It's essentially a portrait of a family's black sheep and his thorny, mismatched relationships with his siblings. Those relationships are about to strain when their father -- the glue holding them together -- passes away, and his life legacy is distributed.

Each sibling gets what seems to suit them: aggressive and energetic Robert gets the business and steadfast Lisa receives the home and heirlooms. So Chase is piqued when he gets nothing but a dusty storage unit, which only reinforces his status as the family oddball. Plagued with feelings of inadequacy, Chase acts out and picks fights with his siblings, and actor Connor Boyd is particularly good at portraying the hurt vulnerability that his goofier, more eccentric demeanor distracts from. But as he bumbles and struggles with his anger and grief after the reading of the will, we also see his self-sabotage. Being the black sheep has allowed him to avoid taking ownership of his life as well, and that's catching up to him.

But we understand his pain at being the black sheep, an outsider in his own family, and that pain turns to anger when sparked by Robert, portrayed by actor Jacob Daniels, who unapologetically plays the jerk with a skillful wink of humor. Chase even acts out around Lisa, damaging the precious heirloom vase. But when he discovers his storage unit has invaluable, intriguing powers of fixing what's broken, he hopes to rectify his mistakes and prove to his siblings that he can do and be more than they think.

Funny, entertaining yet unafraid to explore difficult emotions, RESTORAGE ends on something of a cliffhanger, designed to raise more questions for further exploration in a series format -- and clearly, what follows would likely be as inventive, emotionally rich and relatable as this short. As such, it offers a tantalizing and fun metaphor for repairing relationships and our damaged self-images. We get the sense that Chase will be going on a bigger journey -- one where he must take responsibility for his mistakes and discover that healing what's broken takes more than an easy fix.