Group therapy. The idea of sitting in a room with a handful of stranger and sharing your deepest, darkest secrets is enough to make most people turn and run the other way. This film is about several individuals who find themselves in such a situation. Claire, the nymphomaniac, who has yet to sit through an entire session. Jet, the loudmouth who tends to talk about himself rather than listen to others. Mike, the misogynist in denial. Kasim, who has been ordered to take anger management classes, but doesn’t think he needs them. John, the first-timer who has lost contact with his daughter, and is about to lose both his job and his wife. This motley crew is under the direction of Professor Barkley, and Harvard-trained psychologist who spouts motivational speaker-type bullshit while at the same time berating the members of the group in a way that doesn’t seem remotely helpful.
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One of the biggest challenges in a short film is to introduce the characters, explain the plot, and come to a resolution all in a short period of time. A short film doesn’t have the luxury of extra time in which to create deep and involved characters, so they have to rely on more creative techniques. In the case of Bar Barons, each of these characters are introduced by title cards and captions that explain what they are in therapy for and what their attitude is about it. This was a really good technique, as there are several people in the group, and the viewer may get confused if each person was introduced the conventional way; plus one might automatically assume that some are extras who will not be named at all. The titles themselves are also quite well-written and give a very good introduction to each character so that viewer feels as if they know them.
A couple of the characters – Mike and Kasim – are even given the opportunity to speak about themselves in a more personal manner. Mike appears in a tuxedo, standing next to a guitar player, singing a song about how women make him so frustrated and that he doesn’t think there is anything wrong with himself. I really liked the scene in which Kasim addressed the audience – he was sitting at a grand piano, wearing a suit and blue sunglasses, and talking about his abusive father, how people think he has a problem with anger, and how he loves Claire but she won’t acknowledge him at all. It was a really nice touch to include Claire in this scene, lying down on the piano like a twenties nightclub singer. I especially liked the fact that, throughout his monologue, Kasim would consistently pause and say, “But I’m not angry.”
There were also a couple of nice character moments when, after John arrives late to the meeting, Claire strikes up a conversation with him. She is obviously flirting and – as the audience already knows – is a sex addict looking for another victim. John, however is in a very vulnerable place and gives in to her seduction. During their conversation, there are a couple moments where we get a glimpse of their inner feelings. John is obviously excited that this beautiful girl is talking to him, even though he is trying to hide it, and there is a brief cut to a shot of him saying, “She likes me, she really likes me!” (The line was more than a bit clichéd, but it did get the point across). There was then a cut to a similar shot of Claire screaming at John about how, since he was a man, she absolutely hated him. After the conversation has progressed a while, there is another insight into John’s thoughts where he speaks about wanting to rip Claire’s clothes off. However the corresponding shot of Claire shows her staring him down and saying very matter-of-factly, “I’m going to use you and dump you.”
These very personal character moments tie in very nicely with the whole group therapy aspect of the film; it’s also a nice irony considering that the point of group therapy is to be honest with everyone, and yet no one in this group is willing to be honest, except inside their own minds. The one issue I had with this presentation is that it was a little confusing for the viewer. The first character moment is Mike’s solo, and at first I was unable to tell who was singing the song. There was a very brief flash of white to differentiate between the “real world” and the mind of the characters, but it didn’t seem like a clear enough transition. Even though it’s been overdone, the while flash is a clearly recognizable transition between flashbacks or thought sequences; it’s something that the audience will automatically understand. A feature-length film has the luxury of time to introduce their audience to a new type of transition (thought even then that’s not always the best idea), but a short film ought to stick with recognizable conventions in order to avoid confusing the audience.
