VOTD: Mark Slutsky's 'Never Happened' Imagines Adultery With A Sci-Fi Twist

We've seen plenty of movies about romantic affairs happening behind the backs of significant others. However, in Mark Slutsky's short film Never Happened, which played at the Toronto International Film Festival, there's a world where those cheating on their husbands and wives or boyfriends and girlfriends don't have to worry about lying. That's because there's a sci-fi twist that changes the way people keep their adulterous behavior from each other.

Watch the Never Happened short film after the jump.

It takes a little while to get to the payoff, but it's worth it in the end for this intriguing sci-fi concept, especially with the implications that the husband doesn't seem to be the only one keeping secrets. It's like the mind erasing procedure from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but much less invasive and far less extensive. In fact, this concept opens the door for all sorts of possibilities for how this could be used on a feature film.

Imagine if someone could commit a crime, but then have no real memory of doing it so they can pass a polygraph and not get caught. But then what happens if there's some key piece of information that you were given during a period of time you intended to erase from your mind? Is there a way that someone could use this technology to erase something from someone else's mind? How much time can you delete before it does damage to your brain? There are so many questions I have that I'd like to see explored further. But for now, this is a satisfying short.

Never Happened is just one of several short films available at Chernin Entertainment's new sci-fi short film outlet Dust. Check out the website with some more sci-fi shorts right here.