Short Film Review: Two Tears – When Feeling Becomes the Real Performance

Understanding childhood is one thing, and being able to make a film that captures this significant portion of every human’s life, highlighting how delicate it can be with its confusion and pressures, is another thing.

I believe Josefina Pieres’ latest short film, ‘Two Tears‘ does this perfectly. Even though it leans into a simple narrative, it still manages to capture depths that show the almost invisible emotional shifts of its young characters.

At the center of the story are Ginny and Deana, two eight-year-old ballet students preparing for their first performance of The Nutcracker. On the surface, their world is one of routine. Practice, discipline, and the desire to get everything right, even in their innocence. But that sense of confidence is shaken when they stumble upon a mysterious book that mentions a curse. Before stepping onto the stage, they must shed two tears of pure emotion or they risk losing their future as dancers.

It is a strange idea, almost mystical, but the film never treats it as fantasy. Instead, the “curse” becomes a mirror, reflecting a deeper truth about performance, and more importantly, about feeling. Ginny and Deana are not just trying to cry. They are trying to understand what it means to feel something real. This is the core of this simple yet emotionally laden film.

The film does not rush to explain emotions in big, dramatic ways. Instead, it sits with the girls in their confusion when they find out about this curse. There is something honest in the way they question things, in the way they observe their teacher, Miss Maia (played by Krystal Millie Valdes), and sense that she knows more than she is willing to say. That curiosity, mixed with a quiet fear of failure, feels very true to childhood.

The performances from the young leads Sofia Bela and Sydney Goldstein and carry the film with a gentle strength. There is no sense of overacting here. Instead, we see two children trying to make sense of something bigger than them. Through it all, their friendship and support for each other show, and that also becomes an emotional anchor of the story. It feels genuine, as though they are together even when they don’t fully understand what “this” is. And sometimes that is all that children need, a friend who is right there in the moment with them.

Krystal Millie Valdes also adds another layer to the film with her portrayal of Miss Maia. She is calm, composed, and careful with her words, but there is a weight behind her silence. The film does not spell out her past, yet you can sense it in the way she carries herself. She represents what happens when emotion is controlled for too long, when expression becomes something to manage rather than something to embrace.

Visually, the film matches its tone. There is a softness in the way scenes unfold, almost like watching a memory or a beautiful dream. The world of ballet, often seen as rigid and exact, is presented here with a quiet fluidity. This contrast works well. It reminds us that while the body can be trained to perfection, the heart does not follow the same rules.

What stands out most about ‘Two Tears’ truly is its simplicity. It does not try to answer every question it raises. Instead, it focuses on a single moment in the lives of these girls’ childhoods. That choice may feel limiting to some viewers, but it is also what gives the film its emotional honesty. Life, especially at that age, is not always about clear resolutions. Sometimes, it is simply about the beginning of understanding, and we all eventually experience this.

If there is a slight weakness, it lies in how carefully the film stays within its emotional boundaries. There are moments where you feel it could dig a little deeper, push a little further into the consequences of what the girls are experiencing. But perhaps that is not the point. This is not a story about transformation in full.

In the end, ‘Two Tears’ is less about whether Ginny and Deana can produce the tears the “curse” demands, and more about what those tears mean. It is about the realisation that true expression cannot be forced, that feeling is not something you perform on command, and that emotion is part of us.

I will score it 4.5  out of 5 stars.