All That Remains (Short Film)

Stan Kucharski is an old man living by himself and has no real purpose in life. But it all changes when a stranger named Frank, who claims to be Stan’s nephew, brings the news that Stan’s brother, Walter, has just passed away. Stan and Walter used to be really close, but they had not seen each other ever since Walter left for war 51 years ago. Frank not only asks Stan to write a eulogy for his late father as one of his last wishes, but he also leaves a box of Walter’s most personal belongings with Stan, in an attempt to help with Stan’s writing process. Out of curiosity, Stan takes the box. Among Walter’s personal treasures he finds a yellowed name card of Joe Kimura, a military psychiatrist. He visits Joe, who still remembers Walter as a tortured soul.Stan discovers that Walter suffered from Post-Trauma [Post-traumatic] Stress Disorder, and was hospitalized for over ten years. That night, Stan finds Walter’s journal in the box, and he even tries to write the eulogy, but fails. Frank stops by Stan’s house again, still coming to terms with his loss. But Stan’s indifference forces Frank to confess that Walter never asked Stan to write a eulogy. Instead, at life’s end, Walter only wanted to visit Stan and tell him how sorry he was all these years, but he passed away before he could make the trip. Frank begs Stan to write the eulogy as if Walter could hear it somehow, but adds that he thought his uncle would be a better person. Frank’s honest comments send a shock through Stan’s spine. In the end, Stan decides to attend Walter’s funeral, where he apologizes to Frank and meets Frank’s family, and calls himself Uncle Stan for the first time in his life. Stan asks for a couple of minutes alone with Walter, and looking at Walter’s cold body, Stan releases all the emotions that have suppressed inside for 51 years, and reconciles with Walter once and for all.