Echelon Studios

The indie film circuit’s new little movie that could is not a quirky expose that includes a musty yellow VW Bus or a wisecracking pregnant teenager, but instead a harrowing tale that explores the trauma of child abuse through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy.

Little Wings marks the film debut of writer-director Morgan Rhodes, founder of Journey Blue Films, who has previously worked in television, most notably on “Nip/Tuck,” and is co-executive producer on “Bitter Brew,” a spec pilot. 

Yet as Little Wings, a Haydenfilms 3.0 Film Festival finalist and official selection for the Cannes 2007 Short Film Corner, continues to gain momentum, Rhodes herself is gaining increasing success in the indie film world.

Little Wings was recently picked up by Echelon Studios, Las Vegas, for worldwide distribution and is also being translated and released in Italy.  Little Wings follows a young boy named Thomas, who escapes from his abusive father through his passion for butterflies.

After saving a butterfly from a spider’s web, Thomas’ life takes a sudden turn for the better, and the surprises he finds ultimately lead him to his freedom.  Morgan credits the Haydenfilms Online Film Festival as playing a major role in assisting the film to its new found success.

“For me, the hardest part of being a filmmaker is getting the film to a place where people can actually see it,” says Morgan. “The Haydenfilms Film Festival made if easy to upload the film and showcase it.”  This is hardly the end of the journey for both Morgan or Little Wings; Morgan is currently writing the film’s feature version, entitled A Heavy Heart, as well as several other features.

A bittersweet take on the twentysomething tribulations of young adulthood when messy matters like love and work need to be sorted out and soon, Only For You sheds a sensitive and humorous light on how the choices we make and when in our lives, get fleshed out down the road as fate. Written and directed by Donna Persico, the film also touches on the friendships and surrogate families formed in the interim, that help get us through the more complicated crossroads on the way to maturity, for better or worse.

Dana (Shea Curry) clings to a dream of one day becoming an accomplished actress, but in the meantime she supports herself by pet sitting in her Portland, Oregon neighborhood, to pay the rent. While taking part in a local theater production, she meets Jack (Michael Buie), a handsome cast member and sports writer for a Portland newspaper. Instant chemistry between the two materializes, along with some brief, intense romance.

But complications quickly arise and transform the hot attraction into an awkward platonic relationship, because Jack is living with another woman. Settling for much less and burying her unrequited heartache, Dana is devastated when Jack announces that he's proposed to his girlfriend. At the same time, Jack realizes his ambivalence about pending marriage, when he weighs that decision against the buried, deep feelings he has for Dana.

Only For You explores these dilemmas with a subtle and tender touch, while avoiding pat solutions or easy emotions. Persico does have a more solid grasp of her female characters, in particular the bonds they form that carry them through life. And the drama would have certainly benefited from more space to flesh out these intriguing characters. But the journey through these conflicted lives, sketchy as they may be, plays out with uncommon generosity and affection. 

Echelon Studios
Echelonstudios.us
Unrated
2 1/2 stars
 DVD Features: Scene Selections; Trailers.

.Prairie Miller is a multimedia journalist online, in print and on radio. Contact her through NewsBlaze.Copyright © 2008, NewsBlaze.

Six short films, unrelated except for whatever it was that Echelon Studios’ marketing people were smoking when they came up with the title “Shorts for Cats.” It’s a cute idea – catnip affair. Perhaps that’s why the fuzzies slept through the whole thing.

Marketing oddities aside, “Shorts for Cats” is like most anthologies: a mixed bag of quality technique and persuasive storytelling. On the lesser side, films like “The Fight” set up interesting characters and the promise of drama – Nicholas T’s dialogue has that ring of sincerity, and the performances are good – but oddly fail to follow through.

The meager plot of a man who aspires to art school but plays at mixed martial arts for dollars instead resolves itself before even getting started. Never mind anti-climatic; there’s no peak to reach without a slope to climb. In “Duel,” the collection’s lushest cinematography, along with a sharply choreographed fight, duels with substance and handily wins.

The tragically ironic meeting of two characters, one an elite member of the King’s guard and the other a drunken former royal assassin, has no character development to rest on nor plot to ride – meaning, no emotional impact. And perhaps strangest of the lot is “Don’t Leave Me,” an attempted mind-bender involving romantic infidelity that is too obtuse and abstract for its own good. The mysterious dual identities and narrative looping, a far cry from David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” are interesting, but only in the sense that cutting through a Gordian knot with a sword is satisfying to a puzzle lover.

Not all the shorts are incomplete or lacking in comprehensibility. “Little Winds,” essentially a polished greeting card, boasts of an august performance by Ron Canada as a butterfly whisperer and an appropriately cloying child protagonist in Joseph Castanon. But the straightforward plot suffers from dubiously pitting wishful thinking and escapist fantasy against domestic violence. As we vomit “aww, shucks” at the sweet ending, we also throw up when realizing how the moral of the story is that it’s better to run away from problems than confront and solve them.

The Upside

But the upside is that the remaining shorts are bang-up representations of how well short forms can work when plot, character and cinematic technique converge seamlessly. “No Menus, Please” is a subtle character study dressed up in the comic premise of a rivalry between two fellows whose job it is to put menus on apartment doors. Richard Chang says little, but has a face as expressively mournful as a basset hound’s.

The immigrant’s loneliness in an unfamiliar environment, the strange mixture of determination and disinterest in a menial job; these lurk below the surface and drive the film’s poignancy. For “The Big Break,” quirky dialogue and Luca Costa’s physicality make for a comically reactive mix. But it’s the surprise twist in a tale of a man attempting to kill a film producer – and encountering an equally desperate actress instead – that gives the film a boost of character. As with “No Menus, Please,” there’s more going on than the surface comedy suggests, and the two films are easily strong enough to make for their undeniably interesting, if not quite successful, cinematic companions.

Entertainment Value: ** (out of two)
Technical Quality: * (out of two)

,

No.. it's not a feline film frenzie...."Shorts for Cats" is a collection of 6 quality shorts we just reviewed from ECHELON STUDIOS. This is a great idea, and a great mini-collection of dramatic & comedy short films for you to share with your friends (cats?).

The titles included are, Duel, No Menu Please, The Big Break, The Fight, Little Wings and Don’t Leave Me. Each film stands on it's own and having them together, one after another at the click of the remote makes watching shorts easier too. "Duel" and "Little Wings" stand out as exceptional productions, but all 6 are worth your valuable viewing minutes. This collection hits the streets June 24 from distributor Singa Home Entertainment, and we recommend you Cats out there check them out!

The official site: WWW.ECHELONSTUDIOS.US

HOLLYWOOD2YOU.TV - John Reed

BUY IT ON SINGA!!!

DRAMA“Letting Life In” explores a single year of life between two people. Michael (Patrick Hall), a reclusive novelist, lives in a small town in upstate New York; he knows nothing of living life beyond the suffocating walls he has built for himself.

Sara (Anna W. Griffin), a cancer survivor, takes a job as Michael’s personal assistant. Now free of her illness, she uses this opportunity to live life for the first time, finally experiencing all the things she never could.

Starring: Patrick Hall, Anna W. Griffin
Directed by: Steven James Creazzo

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Julius (Jason Rose) has a secret which threatens to jeopardize everything - his daughter has charged him with abuse. Things begin to go wrong for Julius when against the advice of his American lawyer, Helen (Kelli Jerslake) he confronts his daughter to disastrous effect.

Horror 84 Min.Twelve years after his parents mysterious death, David Stevens and his new family return home to put his dark past behind him. Soon after David’s return the bloody murderers that took place twelve years earlier began once again. All the evidence point towards David, and slowly he looses the trust of everyone in town, including his new wife Mary. As the past of the town unfolds everyone is under suspicion, doing anything possible to keep their past a secret as well. The gruesome trail of murders continue as this plot twisting tale of secrets and deceptions climax into an exploding battle with savage killers.

Starring: Vincent J. Mazella, Denise Filosa, Ronnie Petricevich, Colton Braniff, Bob Fletcher, Jaimi B. Williams.
Directed by: Steven James Creazzo

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Moc-umentary 70 Min.In 1999, two filmmakers set out to uncover the truth about famed filmmaker Lucas James Booth…Four months after they began, everyone involved disappeared…

Directed by: Steven James Creazzo

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Zombie human meat farmers! I shit you not. The zombies in this baby are not quite as stupid as most other zombies, they've a bit of self control and have formed rudimentary communities. They don't always eat you on the spot, sometimes they'll enslave you first, feed you, fatten you up a bit ready to be a screaming main course at their Sunday banquet of blood, raw meat, and entrails! They even raise captive human communities from infancy so that they've got a ready supply of fresh meat.

Struggling against the zombies are small bands of nomadic human survivors, heavily armed, and desperately fighting to stay alive in a world that has been overwhelmed by the undead. Oh, the undead. At least the narrative is honest - we're told nobody knows why they came back to life, maybe a comet, maybe a punishment from good old God delivered upon all us sinners. Ahh well, nevermind - at least the zombies look pretty good, and tear chunks out of victims in a satisfying spray of the gory crimson stuff, so all is well.

The movie opens as it means to go on - with a bit of plot, interestingly enough a lot more coherent and different to the run of the mill low budget zombie, and a lot of headshots and zombie killing delivered in a gory and humorous fashion. Action scenes are done with some tongue in cheek fun, they work well and look good. There's a chuckle or two to be had as we watch the two main characters, brothers, blast out a few brains with a 9mm or cleave dead flesh with a machete.

I've said that dreaded word "plot" a few times, often the nemesis of the zombie movie, but here it's actually got some depth and looks at a few interesting ideas. Although purists may complain about zombies who are capable of a very basic social existence or who can control their appetites long enough to use human beings as slaves, it makes for some good avenues of development. No harm in zombies with a bit more brains than usual - after all, didn't the good old mad doctor back in genre defining classic Day of the Dead say that domestication was the key?

What we end up with is a fun movie that's enjoyable to watch and has a bit more depth than many. Effects are good, there's plenty of blood, and any occasional awkwardness in the mostly effective performances from the cast are easily forgiven or glossed over by the slightly humorous approach the film takes in places.

It's a good movie, with plenty of action, and some interesting themes below the surface. A slightly different take on how things would pan out if the zombie onslaught, it delivers gory zombie fun with style and a bit more intelligence than most. Watch it!

By Billy Sick

It's really a wonderful thing that 400 years later, we still haven't run out of new Hamlets. Shakespeare's longest and arguably densest play has been called "inexhaustible" since before you or I were born, and I don't doubt that it will continue to be called that long after we are gone.

One of the latest adaptations of that mighty work is also perhaps the most esoteric cinematic version of Hamlet that I have ever seen. Set in a modern-dress world that's as much Sartrean Hell as a recognizable version of Denmark in the 10th Century, America in the 21st, or anywhere in between, Alexander Fodor's aggressive vision for the text isn't satisfying in the traditional dramatic sense; as much as it's a movie, it's an experimental video subversion of the story, and as such is better appreciated by those with a solid knowledge of the play than those hoping to find a movie version to watch instead of reading it for class. Within that framework - I won't call it a limitation, since it's for this very reason that Fodor's is the most exciting new Hamlet I've seen onscreen or onstage in years - the film is a marvelous, surprising variation on Shakespeare that succeeds not just as tragedy, but as a melodrama and formalist statement.

Fodor's version of the play is heavy on the uncanny and the paranormal, and light on, oddly enough, Prince Hamlet (Wilson Belchambers). Sure, he's still the protagonist, but in the first hour, much more focus is paid to Polonia (Lydia Piechowiak), changed from Ophelia's (Tallulah Sheffield) crusty father to her ambitious elder sister, playing the young girl like a pawn in her attempts to snare the Elsinore royal family as a private toy, and functioning as the plot's chief villain. The gender shift, one of two in the movie (the other is Horatio, now played by Katie Reddin-Clancy), has a seismic change to the feel of the piece; no longer is the primary sexual struggle between Hamlet and the delicate virgin he obliterates in his feigned madness (nor between Hamlet and his mother, a reading that Fodor happily avoids completely), but between Hamlet and Polonia, and the more evenly matched power between those two makes this a much more dangerous Hamlet than it tends to be; a lack of suitable antagonists being one of the play's classic dramatic flaws.

The other significant character change - and by "significant," I do mean SIGNIFICANT, for almost every character has been at least subtly repurposed - is the ghost of Hamlet's father (James Frail), expanded from a figure in two scenes to a choral figure looking over the entire story. He's not given anything new to say - adding dialogue to Shakespeare being an unthinkable artistic crime - but he is much more present, functioning as an angel of death lording over Shakespeare's most famously death-ridden play. The ghost is also a more forceful, commanding figure than I think I have ever seen, seeming to dictate the outcome of all he observes, perhaps continuing a chess metaphor that Fodor introduces briefly in the early scenes.

The enlarged roll of the ghost suggests the tone that this adaptation takes, which is that of an otherworldly void. There's a lot of white in this Hamlet, and the feeling that the world of the dead is about to spill into the world of the living is continuous. This gives Fodor a lot of room to work with invigorating, nihilistic imagery, sort of like if Kafka had been born late enough to direct perfume ads. Considering its strapped budget and shooting schedule, this Hamlet is a veritable font of exciting, challenging imagery, to go along with an exciting, challenging update of the text. It's very much an update for people who know the play fairly well and don't mind seeing it pulled apart and stuck back together in strange ways; but Hamlet is ever indestructible, and it looks as fresh in Fodor's hands as I've seen it in a long time.





The Mafia-themed short "Lucky Man" isn't without its flaws - primarily an ending you can see coming forever, and a genuine inability to grapple with the fact that there's no shortage of movies exploring the relationship between Catholic morality and the Mafia - but it's a pretty brilliant exercise in style by writer-director Ruvin Orbach, who has come closer to exactly recreating the looks and sounds of a cheap crime thriller from the mid-'70s with his little indie than any major studio effort, with all the time and money in the world.

Partly, I assume this is because of that cheapness; movies made on a shoestring look like movies made on a shoestring. Whatever the case, it has a wonderful, washed look to the colors and perpetual graininess, and it really looks like a forgotten artifact that somebody found quite by accident and released on a whim.

That the style is so distinctive isn't just an incidental, mind you. The story is maybe a little bit stale: Jimmy (John Ales) collects money for the local mobsters, and when he loses all that money gambling, his brother Anthony (Joe Spatoro), a seminary student, has to bail him out. Complications ensue. Feels a bit like a movie you've seen at some point, doesn't it? But because it looks so perfectly like a genuine '70s exploitation flick, the story's clichés seem to fit better. The plot is as familiar and shopworn as the movie looks, and in those terms, it's not a flaw, but part of what makes the film click.

As Mafia films go, "Lucky Man" whirs along nicely. It's generally well-acted and the dialogue is as rough-and-tumble as the genre demands. It asks very little of the viewer, but it is satisfying within its modest goal: to present a quick slice of a tough guy's life, as witnessed by a couple of brothers who aren't all that tough. Nothing about it is startling, but it is well-made and the sort of person likely to search out a mob movie is going to find the film to be everything they'd ask for.

Antagony & Ecstasy: THE INDIE CORNER

By Gareth McBride, Skewed and Reviewed

Deftly putting the “mock” in mockumentary in enough ways to make a mad punner happy, “Futile Attraction” peels back Reality TV’s implicit structural flaw and exposes it to withering satire.

Frederik Sisa, The Front Page Online

The opening shot of Chronicles of an Exorcism does not bode well: a frightened man pointing a camera at his own face and breathlessly explaining how everything has gone haywire and he knows that death is soon upon him. It's been nine years since The Blair Witch Project, not nearly long enough for us to forget where that iconic image came from.

Happily, that's the very worst part of the film, and while Chronicles may not be the finest indie horror film to ever waltz down the pike, it's a pretty satisfying experience nonetheless. An example of the "found footage" genre pioneered by Blair Witch but not fully exploited until  the past few months, Chronicles has at least one leg up on its stablemates, Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead: the fact that the participants keep filming during the shit that goes down is explained in a way that seems reasonable and in keeping with normal human behavior. They're getting paid for it.T

he cameramen-protagonists of Chronicles are Lee (Rob G. Kahn, the one we tend to see in the movie) and Ross (David Michael Ross, the one who tends to be filming), hired by the Catholic Church to document an exorcism superintended by Father Lucas (writer-director Nick G. Miller) and the secretive Father Michael (Matthew Ashford), with support from the Baptist pastor Bill (Ray W. Keziah). To be frank: the very notion of an exorcism movie will forever dwell in the shadow of William Friedkin's The Exorcist, and it's hardly a surprise that the micro-budgeted Chronicles doesn't even come within shouting distance of that genre-defining picture. But on its own terms, the movie comes up with some fairly effective scare moments, especially a fantastic chase through a cornfield; on paper, it lasts twice as long as you'd think it should, but in practice it's a suspenseful scene, even the third or fourth time Miller pulls the same "demonic girl popping up from nowhere" card, that it positively flies past.

Towards the end, the film does bog down in some regrettable but probably unavoidable scenes of religious technobabble (sacrababble?). The balance is probably something like one-third talky scenes, two-thirds effective tension and scare scenes, but the talky scenes are all in a block, and that block is where the climax ought to be.

Beyond that, the film's chief failure is that it never takes advantage of what is easily the most interesting dynamic onscreen. Father Michael and Father Lucas are pitted, time and again, against the filmmakers (seemingly agnostics) and especially Pastor Bill. There's much to be dug out of the specific Protestant/Baptist vs. Catholic nature of this tension, but it's only hinted at, never expressed. It strikes me as a significant missed opportunity.

All in all, though, it's a mostly effective horror film in its less verbose moments. At any rate, it gets the most it can out of the cheapness and smallness of its production, rather than pushing its ambition so far that it crashes and burns. It is modest at best, but it is absolutely a modest success.

Antagony & Ecstasy: THE INDIE CORNER

At times, The Life I Lived is a confused stab at uncovering the inner life of a low-rent mafia don, but it is not without its appeal; and that appeal lies primarily in a priceless lead performance by Richard Bennett as Bill Cacchiotti, a simple suburban business owner who drifts into loansharking and other organized crime in the early '70s, before ultimately turning himself into the boss of a tiny but profitable operation that starts to fall apart when his son Eddie (David L. Buckler) proves to be a complete fuck-up.

Most of the story is Bill's flashback, taking place three weeks after Eddie impulsively kills a cop, the son of the chief of police. As flashbacks go, it's structured in a fairly intriguing way; Bill sometimes evidences an unexpected awareness of reciting his story for an audience, not as though we are watching him in a film, but as though we are sitting with him outside, waiting for whatever is about to happen, to happen.

The entire story arc is the rise and fall of a gangster's empire, and Bill is quite aware that his life and his fortune are both on the decline, and perhaps that is why he tells us his story: because he wants to remember before he doesn't get to anymore.

Bennett is a godsend in the central role. His flat and monotone delivery suggests a constant sarcastic awareness that never falls into goofy meta-jokes, and when he interacts with other people, he always seems just a tiny bit pissed off at them, but trying to hide it.

His Bill is a tired old man who is more annoyed by age than anything else, annoyed by his work and his family and his ghosts. This choice removes Bill from being any kind of tragic figure, but the film could never support that; and the alternate, to make Bill a cantankerous old jerk, is surprising and effective.

For proof that Bill wouldn't work as a tragic figure, we need only look at the screenplay, which tries to make him just that thing. Writer-director Ben E. Solenberger isn't half bad behind the camera - the film moves, and there are some well-turned shots and movements - but his screenplay is burdened with all number of self-consciously profound utterances that weigh the film down in talkiness and pretension.

Bill may very well have a rich inner monologue, but I tend to doubt that anyone, even a movie character, would have such thematically unsubtle thoughts about his life in such a dramatic order. The voice-overs, and to a lesser extent the dialogue, explains the film in tiny bites, making what might have been an interesting concept - a criminal's wry look at his past - into an exercise in obviousness.

It shows promise, but no discipline, and that is something that no amount of small budget (the film is palpably hamstrung by its production size; one house in 1974 prominently features a 9/11-era sticker) can forgive. Even the best performance has a hard time surviving a screenplay that so clearly needed another go-round.

It has taken far too long for New Zealand director Mark Prebble to get "Futile Attraction," a prime example of the global microcinema scene, on home video.

                          

Fans of the distinct cinematic style found in Australia and New Zealand's filmmakers, especially last year's indie darling "Eagle vs. Shark," will undoubtedly enjoy "Futile Attraction." Filmed on an estimated $30,000, "Futile Attraction" attracted quite a bit of press when Prebble took to internet fund-raising in order to finish the film.

                          

In this case, it was worth the hype. Prebble himself describes "Futile Attraction" as an anti-romantic comedy done in mockumentary style about a film crew making a documentary about the life of a relationship who bring together an obviously incompatible young man and woman with the help of a local dating agency.

                          

The young man, Randal (first-timer Peter Rutherford), works as a telemarketer and obsesses on three things...telephones, his mother and his life master plan that essentially involves job, education, pleasing mom, wife and kids. By virtually anyone's standards, Randal is a sweet-hearted, good-natured dork.

                          

The young woman, Germaine (Danielle Mason, "The Strip"), is your basic hippie-chick/environmentalist whose primary motivation for agreeing to the whole thing is the opportunity to share her views on environmental issues.

                          

Following the two anti-lovebirds around is a washed-up announcer named Dudley (Alistair Browning, "Fracture"), the producer's daughter/boom operator Violet (Michelle Ang, "Neighbours") and a host of others. Speaking of "Eagle vs. Shark," that film's writer/director, Taika Waititi, makes a brief appearance here as a waiter under the name Taika Cohen.

                          

With the exception of Peter Jackson, who never met a character he couldn't shred into completely irrelevant pieces, Aussie and New Zealand filmmakers have an uncanny gift for finding the richest humanity in the most unique of characters.

                          

The same is true for Prebble and "Futile Attraction." Despite the film's obviously low-budget and mockumentary style, "Futile Attraction" works largely on the strength of its two leads.

                          

Mason is simply delightful as the beautiful hippie-chick with a heart. Mason has a natural screen presence, and she wisely avoids turning Germaine into a caricature despite the over-the-top nature of the comic goings on.

                          

Similarly, Rutherford's Randal has a droll yet rather endearing presence that would be right at home in "Revenge of the Nerds."

                          

The script, by Prebble and Benedict Reid, bends more towards "This is Spinal tap" than the Christopher Guest films. Clearly focusing most of its comic energy on the two leads, the supporting cast nonetheless shines despite leaning a bit more towards obvious caricatures. In particular, Alistair Browning has a perfect grasp of the comic potential inside his washed up but upwardly mobile announcer.

                          

Mathew Knight's cinematography is simple but effective, and Vedat Kiyici's music mix is a great complement to the film's mix of humor and sweetness.

                          

"Futile Attraction," being released on home video by Singa Home Entertainment, is a marvelous example of the quality films coming out of the world of microcinema. Funny with just the perfect touch of heart, "Futile Attraction" is a low-key comedy gem.

© Written by Richard PropesThe Peaceful Critic

No Menus Please
Writer/Director: Edward Shieh
Running Time: 14:55
Starring: Richard Chang, Kevin Rivera, Fannie Chan, Emily Rieman
Grade: B+

In Edward Shieh's "No Menus Please," Richard Chang ("Windhorse") and Kevin Rivera ("Raising Victor Vargas") play two immigrants who embrace a rather obvious yet ingenious solution in their jobs delivering restaurant menus. When things stop going as planned, however, Chang's Ming breaks the truce between the two in order to keep the American dream alive.

"No Menus Please" is a subtle film featuring understated yet resonant performances from both Chang and Rivera as men struggling to make a buck while also learning the American way of living. A favorite in film festivals nationwide, Shieh's "No Menus Please" takes a minimalist approach to the dialogue and allows the simple actions of both characters to communicate the ups and downs of these two men.

Cinematography from Ian Dudley is strong, and Steven von Kampen's energetic score adds a nice spark to the low-key performances.Filmed on location in the U.S., "No Menus Please" features English language along with Cantonese (accompanied by subtitles).

The Big Break
Director: Matthew Hals
Writers: Luca Costa, Matthew Hals, Piergiorgio Curci
Running Time: 8:45 Mins.
Starring: Luca Costa, Pia Shah
Grade: C

Labeling itself as "a hitman comedy with a twist," "The Big Break" follows a seductive actress who mistakes a hitman for an influential producer. While "The Big Break" seems to be aiming for a comedy of errors, the film's pacing always feels a touch off and the chemistry between Shah and Costa is unconvincing. While Costa, in particular, shows comic potential as the secretly star-crossed actor and hitman, his energy here feels out of balance with his co-star and comes across too much like slapstick without the slap.

While "The Big Break" is by no means a disaster, it becomes a case of unrealized potential. The film does feature solid music from Tim Curran, and Hals shows solid potential as a filmmaker.

The Fight
Director: Jordee Eslinger, Nicholas T.
Writer: T. Nicholas
Running Time: 21:47
Starring: Robynn O. Brooks, Cody Jones, Segel Shisov
Grade: D+

Another case of unfulfilled potential, "The Fight" is easily the weakest short in the "Shorts for Cats" collection. The film stars Cody Jones as an aging, no-holds-barred fighter whose last fight brings him face-to-face with the full spectrum of twists and turns, all in the name of pride.

Much like was true for "The Big Break," "The Fight" is muted by an unconvincing chemistry between its two leads. Richard McMall's cinematography fails to capture the feeling of no-holds-barred fighting, and the design and choreography of the final fight feels disjointed and, even worse, uninvolving. The filmmakers have a decent story to work with, but "The Fight" never gets to the point where we're even remotely involved in the life of the central fighter.

Individually, both Brooks and Jones do a decent job. They just never have a fighting chance with the script's stilted dialogue and uninvolving fight scenes.

Little Wings
Writer/Director: Morgan Rhodes
Running Time: 14:30
Starring: Joseph Castanon, Ron Canada, Kelly Ann Ford, Robert Gantzos
Grade: A-

"Little Wings" is a deeply moving short film that explores the trauma of child abuse through the eyes of 10-year-old Thomas (Joseph Castanon). Thomas is growing up in a seemingly idyllic country home with a loving mother (Kelly Ann Ford, "Beyond the Ring") but a horribly abusive father (Robert Gantzos, "Soldier of God").

When his mother shares with Thomas the Legend of the Butterfly, which states if you whisper a wish to a butterfly the butterfly will then fly off to the heavens to grant the wish, Thomas escapes more and more into the dream world of butterflies as his only escape. When a kindly man (Ron Canada, "Boston Legal") shows up at the farmhouse unexpectedly, Thomas finds hope and the path to joy.

Virtually every aspect of Rhodes' film works beautifully, from the starkly realistic to the magical world of the butterflies. "Little Wings" opened during the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as part of the festival's "Short Film Corner," indicative of the film's power and beauty.

The ensemble cast is stellar, most notably the young yet veteran television actor Joseph Castanon. Castanon's vulnerability onscreen is astounding as he slowly moves from seriously wounded child into the land of joy. Ron Canada, an actor with numerous television and film credits, evokes the spirit of James Earl Jones as the kindly spirit who guides Thomas to a safer space despite his worries about his mother.

Kelly Ann Ford is heartbreaking as the equally trapped wife/mother just trying to love her little boy, while Robert Gantzos does a nice job as the abusive father without ever crossing the line into caricature.

Rhodes' script is a perfect blend of intelligence, innocence and raw emotion, while Seamus Tierney's cinematography clearly keeps the focus on young Thomas through the film's sorrows and joys. The film is capped by the inspired score of Benedikt Brydern.

Fans of short film will adore this wonderful film from Morgan Rhodes, a film that tackles a challenging subject with intelligence, grace and humanity through the eyes of a child.

Don't Leave Me
Writer/Director: Lyndon Ives
Running Time: 9:30
Starring: Amber Coombs, Andrew Piper, Mark Wilson
Grade: C+

Set in contemporary London, "Don't Leave Me" is a psychological drama with a twist. The story evolves around Rose, a young woman struggling with her increasing sense of domestication that seems to conflict with her inner desires and instincts. Convinced her partner is cheating on her, Rose comes face-to-face with her true desires.

While Lyndon Ives' script is certainly intriguing and intelligently written, Andrew Mott's cinematography feels a tad bright given the goings on between Rose and her partner. "Don't Leave Me" occasionally feels a bit stagey, and with an expanded story would be right at home on a stage.

Competently performed by the ensemble cast, "Don't Leave Me" never quite reaches its lofty cinematic goals, however, Coombs keeps it interesting as she works her way through Rose's intriguing psychological dilemma.                             

 Richard Propes, The Peaceful Critic