Cable access television. It brings to mind late-night aspiring televangelists and Wayne’s World wannabes recorded on out-of-date equipment, complete with bad cuts and out-of-focus camerawork. When I first learned that “Moratorium” (one of the episodes of the series The Realm of Never) was produced by and for public access television, I must confess that my initial reaction was similar to what one would expect when finding a large spider crawling up one’s arm (e.g. frantic flailing of the arms, hysteric yelps of terror, and a few choice words). However, just a few minutes into the film, my fears were allayed, as I discovered what remarkable things could be done with decent public access equipment, a creative production and acting team, and a well-written script.
According to director Christopher Del Gaudio, the cast and crew have only 8 hours over the course of one day in which to film the entire 29-minute episode. This means that they have to set everything up (stage, lighting, audio, cameras, etc.), make sure all the equipment works, film the project, then take everything down. It is filmed like a play, one scene at a time, live to DV tape, with no retakes. This is achieved through meticulous preplanning. Del Gaudio has between 6-9 rehearsals with the cast at his house; they go over the script, dialogue, and blocking over and over again. Any changes or cuts are made during this process, so that on the day of filming, everyone knows exactly what they're supposed to do.
Similar to other sci-fi/fantasy dramas, such as The Twilight Zone, The Realm of Never explores themes of human nature. In this particular episode, we are at war with an unnamed Enemy. As a result, a moratorium has been declared, putting a halt to normal, daily activities, while government-run video home surveillance has become standard. Myles Goddard --a young intern at a Senator's office-- has been exposed to the Liresept virus, which has been randomly released into the public via mail. However, certain people that come into contact with the virus develop antibodies to it, thus causing the virus to mutate into a new strain. Known as Strain 51, it causes an unanticipated side effect: omniscience. Before his fate is determined, Myles must wait for an official diagnosis from the doctor to see if he merely has the Liresept virus (which is treatable) or the more potent Strain 51 (which is not). But during the course of his examination, Myles realizes that the real Enemy is far different from what they have been led to believe.
Content
The acting in the film is excellent, particularly the performance of Darren O'Hare, who plays Myles. The majority of the dialogue in the middle of the film belongs to his character, so it's pretty much up to him to uphold the middle chunk of the production, which he does very well. The writing is tight and the story moves along at a good pace; some of the monologues seemed to go on a bit too long in places, but not enough to cause the viewer to lose interest. Because the entire project was filmed in one day, on one location, in less than eight hours, both the story and the set are structured very much like a play. Del Gaudio puts a nice little "twist" at the end of the film, and ends with the narrator leaving the audience with a few final thoughts.
