Even a Short Story Can Lose Its Grip

MOVIE REVIEW
Dirty Cop
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Genre: Drama, Short
Year Released: 2021, 2025
Runtime: 19m
Director(s): Elena Maria Dell Aguzzo
Writer(s): Fabian Farina
Cast: Fabian Farina, Sarah Maria Paul, Staci Dickerson
Where to Watch: TBA

RAVING REVIEW: DIRTY COP doesn’t waste time. With a runtime just under 20 minutes, it aims to pack a gritty, character-driven drama into a tight window—just enough space to introduce a man on the edge and suggest a whole world of consequences without being able to explore any of them fully. Directed by Elena Maria Dell Aguzzo and written by Fabian Farina, the short features Farina in the lead alongside Sarah Maria Paul and Staci Dickerson. It carries a familiar genre energy—corrupt law enforcement, internal chaos, a system that erodes the soul—but approaches it with the rawness of an indie short.

The central figure, played by Farina, is a cop caught between burnout and breakdown. From the opening moments, it’s clear that his character isn’t meant to be a traditional antihero or a full-blown villain. Instead, we’re watching someone mid-collapse, someone whose authority masks a deeply compromised core. There’s a compelling idea here: showing a character not at the peak of corruption, but halfway through a spiral, still wearing the uniform while morality peels away in layers. Unfortunately, the film spends so much time maintaining its bleak, atmospheric tone that it barely allows the viewer to understand who this person is, much less why they matter to the larger world around them.

Every second has to count for a project like this brief, and there’s no denying that DIRTY COP tries to make a statement with its aesthetic. The cinematographer's choices lean on stark lighting and grounded settings—grimy interiors, washed-out colors. The mood is heavy from the jump, evoking the unease of watching someone tiptoe toward implosion. But the substance never matches the surface. We’re told, or shown, that this cop is morally compromised, but beyond that central point, little is added. They’re angry, but about what? Exhausted, but from which specific failures? The film gestures toward these questions without ever answering them.

That doesn’t mean the performances are without merit. Farina brings a coiled presence to the lead role—silence often says more than the few lines of dialogue. The fatigue and paranoia are sold, even when the script undercuts the drama with vague exchanges and emotionally void dialogue. Sarah Maria Paul and Staci Dickerson round out the small ensemble, and both deliver what they can with characters who exist more as symbols or catalysts than fully formed people. 

Part of the issue lies in the film’s approach to tension. DIRTY COP feels like it’s building toward something—an explosion, a reckoning—but never quite reaches that peak. Instead, it stays in a holding pattern, content to let mood substitute for momentum. In a feature-length project, there might be space to work. But in the short format, the clock is ticking fast, and without a meaningful shift or escalation, the film’s ending lands with more resignation than impact.

Dell Aguzzo has an eye for mood and pacing, and the underwritten performance hints at a deeper internal conflict. There’s a version of DIRTY COP that pushes further into the why: why do they still wear the badge, what lines were crossed, and what line is approaching now? But those elements remain unexplored, and instead, we’re left with a film that wants to say something about guilt, power, and complicity without doing the heavy lifting required to make those ideas resonate.

As it stands, DIRTY COP leaves a moderate impression. There’s enough here to suggest talent, particularly in its direction and lead performance, but not enough to create a lasting emotional or thematic impact. It may feel like a decent snapshot of familiar territory for viewers who appreciate the genre, but it lacks the weight or specificity to rise above that baseline. Its ambiguity doesn’t challenge.

DIRTY COP may hint at corruption, weariness, and internal erosion, but its strongest asset—the mood—is its only consistent element. Everything else arrives half-formed, waiting for a larger canvas that never comes. It’s a film that could’ve cut deeper if it had trusted the audience with more than shadows.

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[photo courtesy of FOUR OLIVES PRODUCTIONS]

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