I don't generally see too many festival short films that impress me, but I have to admit that this one was an exception. Smart, smart writing and clear directing made this a standout in the sea of murkiness that passes for a line-up in current festivals. Hey, if you get nothing else from this film, you can at least jump for joy that it isn't about the pithy, endless struggle of strangely wealthy minorities (read: gay, black, Latino, democrat, etc.) in that hell on earth, A.K.A. America. No, it seems to be more like a, what's the word...like a...um...story! That's it! Like a story! With interesting characters and fantastic acting for a group of unknowns. What'sit about? Wow. That's the genius of it. It's about everything and nothing at the same time. Lucifer gets a dose of his own medicine could be a tag-line for it, but the only way to get any true understanding of it would be to see it. This isn't a book report, and the chances of you seeing it aren't so small as to be immeasurable (I could easily see HBO putting this on late at night) - so instead I will just say that the directing was very clear and to the point, which is a quality that seems to have vanished almost entirely. I looked up Brendan Davis's body of work right here and surprise! He's actually been in the business. He's had the experience on set to know what in the hell he is doing. That being said, he had a leg up with the material he was provided in both the quality of the script and the ability of the actors. Written by Rook Overman, the material is stellar. On the surface, a bit tongue in cheek and initially formulaic in appearance. But the truth is this guy is writing at a truly astounding level. While I would say that to really enjoy this film does require a baseline knowledge of pop-culture that surpasses the average film-goer's by a country kilometer, Rook has provided a story that exists intact on several levels, including (at the risk of exposing my own ignorance) very clever analogies to Freemasonry. One fiendishly clever example would be his main character's (Jimmy, played expertly on point by Andy Hamrick) sanctuary of Alcoholic's Anonymous, or A.A., can clearly be recognized as a reference to Astrum Argentum. And so on. Anyway, the guy is clearly already light years beyond many well-established screenwriters. And as a bonus, he can actually act! And I don't mean like Tarantino. I mean like a young Mickey Roarke. I, for one, will be looking for his name on feature films in the very near future. So if you see this one set for screening at a nearby festival, be sure to check it out. It is a who's who of up-and-comers.
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