The 35-minute YouTube short titled ‘Harley Quinn - Blazing Shadows’ tells the story of the famous villainess’ redemption from The Joker.
With the DCEU still weighing heavy on my mind (ahem, did you say Snyder Cut), I came across this very interesting extended short. Late last year, Think Big Studios released on YouTube a 35-minute-long Harley Quinn-centric fan fiction film titled Harley Quinn - Blazing Shadows. Produced and directed by Thomas Bernecker, the short film was a two-year long labor of love that gives a different take on a character who was made famous as The Joker’s sidekick.
“We have always seen Harley as so much more than just a supporting character,” Bernecker explained. “Harley Quinn has the full potential to exist as an independent character. My wish, as a fan […] was that there should be a film in which Harley plays the leading role and that we should be able to experience her character in all its facets.” The 2020 film Birds of Prey proved the female jokester can do just fine without Mistah J.
Watch Harley’s redemption now:
The filmmakers chose to portray Harley in her classic jester suit without Puddin’s cap. Bernecker added, “In our opinion, this version of Harley is still the most popular original—the one we fell in love with in the comics and Batman.”
Blazing Shadows takes place about five years after the separation of the Clown Prince and Princess of Crime. Harley has moved back to her hometown of Brooklyn and lives with her girlfriend Poison Ivy. The former villainess begins to long for the good old days, when she robbed banks and spread deliciously chaotic mayhem. Amongst her feelings of doubts, pain and fear, Kitsune, the master of fire and fear, is awakened. Kitsune digs deeper and deeper into Harley’s psyche until he finally meets her greatest fear: The Joker himself. Will she remain in her new life with Poison Ivy, or will her old ego re-emerge?
Bernecker completely financed the production, and approximately 80 filmmakers from various countries, including Germany, France, Austria, England, USA, Vietnam and India, participated in the film. Blazing Shadows was shot entirely in Berlin in December, 2019 over an eight-day period.
For more information, visit Think Big Studios.
Cybersecurity specialist by day, investigative journalist by night.
