|
|
 |
|
The
music was also a very good choice. It matched the Film
Noir style very well, and really served to enhance the
mood. For instance, there was one great music moment in
the diner scene between Jake and Peter. While Jake grills
Peter about the current difficulties in his life and insists
that his friend must be running some sort of scam rather
than earning an honest wage, Peter begins to contemplate
the things that have happened to him in the past few years.
As he begins to recount to Jake the problems he faces,
the music builds in intensity, and we are sure that Peter
is going to admit to his desire to rob his employer or
leave his wife. But then the music stops suddenly, and
Peter stoically says that he finds ways to make things
work. This is a great moment that really gets the audience
going--and helps to hit them even harder when they find
out at the end that Peter is, in fact, stealing from his
company.
Use
of Budget
There's a saying in the movie business: 'Cheap, fast,
and good. Pick two.' After learning how Mr. Cohen
spent his budget, I'd say that's a fairly accurate statement
regarding this film.
At
first I thought that $8500 was a pretty big price tag,
even for a film that looked this good. Still, after learning
from the director where the money went, I'd say it's actually
quite impressive. Contrary to my original thought, the
actors worked without pay (very impressive, considering
that all of them gave amazing performances!). The money
initially went to buying 35mm lenses and an adapter for
the DV camera, but the majority was poured into locations.
For the bank location, for instance, the filmmaker could
only find one location that had been unused for over 25
years. The crew then had one day (12 hours) to clean out
the set; fly in desks, lights, computers, plants, etc.;
set up lighting; shoot the scenes; and tear everything
out. Wow! And no one went postal? In my opinion, that's
the real accomplishment!
Lasting
Appeal
I
watched this film with a co-worker who is not very indie
movie-savvy. But he agreed with me that "Peter's
Price" was very technically sound, and a really interesting
story. I know of many people who would really enjoy seeing
this film - and I'm guessing that most of them wouldn't
even be fans of independent movies, they would just find
it to be an interesting film. Most people tend to look
down on short films, as that is usually the realm of the
art film, but this movie looks so much like a mainstream
film, I'm sure it will find plenty of fans.
Overall
Comment
Though the director has expressed a desire to re-shoot
this film in feature-length, I'm wondering if there's
even a need to proceed further. This short is very well-done,
and the story seems as if it would be much more interesting
in this short format rather than being expanded on. Especially
taking into considation the potentially large price tag.
However, because of the good quality of this short, if
the director were to submit it along with a completed
script for the feature-length film, he would probably
have a good shot at finding backers who would be willing
to help him make it. Either way, this is a really great
short film, and I applaud this director's accomplishments!
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Content
|
9.7
|
|
Visual
Look
|
8.8
|
|
Use
of Audio
|
9.2
|
|
Use
of Budget
|
9.7
|
|
Lasting
Appeal
|
9.5
|
|
Overall
Score
|
9.4
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The
author of half a dozen screen plays, two novels, and a proficient
camera-woman in her own right, Monika
DeLeeuw-Taylor is Microfilmmaker's lead writing analyst and
one of our top film reviewers. When she's not writing a critique for
Microfilmmaker, she's writing screenplays for Viking Productions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
