Short Takes

November (2004) - Courtney Cox plays a woman who deals with the murder of her boyfriend (James LeGros) at a convenience store. The film was one of the first releases of a company called InDigEnt (Independent Digital Entertainment) which was going to use a unique business model and new digital technology to create a new paradigm of filmmaking. On some levels it has worked, on others it has not. The paradigm, which pays every cast crew a low, flat fee with profit participation, which keeps the budget low, along with the focus of using digital technology was very exciting when it was first introduced.

In filmmaking, however, any new paradigm only works if the end product is good. November is an interesting project, but not very mainstream, which limits its financial potential. The story unfolds like a unique dream-like mystery and finishes up at around a quick 80 minutes. The film is broken into three sections where the story repeats itself as with slightly different outcomes.

Overall the film works as designed, but the audience will be limited.

*****

Behind the Nine (2003) - a microcinema feature film effort about a man who is sponsoring an illegal nine-ball tournament in his home concerned someone is out to steal the prize money. The film is solid for a microcinema effort, but uneven performances and not-quite believable and cramped set locations undermine the effect of the film. The movie did find distribution and was available via Netflix, which is how I came to view it, so good for them.

*****

Hubris (2005) - Hubrisis a very funny short film about a man, Jeremywho's attempt to help his best friend's dating drought by trying to manipulate a speed dating event to make his best friend Barry look the best. Apparently based on a true story, Jeremy gets a couple of friends to participate in his scheme and by portraying the worst men possible they elevate Barry's stature among the speed dating women. The humor of the story really kicks into high gear as we quickly move from one of Barry's friends to another, each one displaying some of the most inappropriate dating introductions possible.

The actors are all very solid and the writing is exceptionally funny at times. The momentum of the short loses a little steam as the dating event twists into an unexpected ending, but not enough to undermine the comedy that so effectively preceded it. Hubris is a well crafted humorous short that is an enjoyable treat.

*****

Perceptions (2005) - Perceptions is a short film about a young college student, Shawn who finds himself intertwined in a murder he did not commit. The story unfolds like repeating dream within a dream where Shawn relives various moments of the events, yet with slightly different outcomes. The film never quite comes to any sort of solid resolution, but the journey is an interesting one.

The cinematography is quite standard and actually undermines the effect of the living dream/nightmare quality of the piece. In such a story as this the audience is looking for hints as to what is real and what is fantasy where the mood created from the lighting could give, even on a subconscious level, a hint of the filmmakers intention. The acting is relatively solid with Jarrod Lawrence and Lisa Lee, playing his attractive classmate, offering the most natural performances.

Perceptions disjointed non-linear story telling is intriguing, yet not fully realized due to rather plain production values and occasionally distracting mediocre acting of some of the minor characters. Overall the short is a solid effort. I always appreciate filmmakers who use the microcinema forum to attempt varying styles of storytelling, even if the end result is not fully presented.

*****

Preserve Me a Seat (2005) - If you have a historic theater in your area, when was the last time you visited one? When was the last time you went to a movie theater, period? Preserve Me a Seat is a documentary by Jim Fields that focuses, primarily, on the attempts to preserve the last remaining Cinemarama theaters of it’s kind in the United States. The theater, in Indian Hills, Nebraska, is one of three designed with a completely circular structure. The theater was purchased by a local hospital and is scheduled to be torn down to make way for a parking lot. In quick fashion, people who grew up watching films in that theater form a preservation society in an attempt to stave off demolition.

Fields then takes us on similar journeys to other cities in Illinois, Utah and Michigan that have faced such tasks of trying to save a historic, yet financially struggling movie theater. Fields does a very good job of showing various tactics, each of which with different levels of impact and/or success, as well as unique ways a theater can be “saved” without retaining itself as a working theater.

I am lucky to live within a quick drive to the Tampa Theater, a grand movie house in downtown Tampa that was built in the 1920’s, with wonderful and opulent decorations, a starlit ceiling, balcony seating and an original organ used for re-showings of silent films. And the sad thing is that the last time I actually went to watch a film there was in 1990 to watch a Star Trek film festival called Sit Long and Prosper. Watching this film made me realize that I was long overdue to revisit my local historical landmark with my kids, who are now old enough to appreciate it.

Preserve Me a Seat also briefly deals with the growing impact of home theaters to the theater chain movie-watching experience. I understood the filmmaker’s concern, as I watched this film on theater preservation in the comfort of my own self-made home theater. With DVD releases coming so soon after theatrical release, I rarely find myself wit the urge to see a theater outside of my home. Which is why one has to wonder just how important theater preservation truly is since the trend is to not go to the theaters to watch a movie anyway.

This documentary is a perfect fit for film lovers and cinema historians. It shows what is probably the end of a movement, the last gasps of movie theater preservation.