You wanna rating points along with your indie movie? Do something new. Show us something exceptional. Take a danger. That’s precisely what director Paul Dale does in his 60-minute feature, Fast Food & Cigarettes. It’s the tale of crooks involved in a hostage scenario at a neighborhood diner, and director Dale Dangerously threatens the whole thing using providing a feature with absolutely no dialogue. Does the risk pay off? I’m going to trademark this phrase: “The riskiest part of the threat is a danger.”
Using the diner robbery as the movie’s place to begin, flashbacks are applied to offer context for all concerned. Our crooks are Jim (Kenny Bellau), who desires money to shop for cocaine, and his friend Louis (Jamey Faucheux), tagging along for a few extra dollars to pay rent. If you don’t forget the TV show Lost, flashbacks are also used to delve into the lives of the hostages. Sally (Manon Pages) is a server at the diner who has simply found out she’s pregnant. Bridget (Karista Filopolous) and Lorne (Alex Boutte) are a pair who had to get out of the house after a sad loss. Mike (Creek Wilson) is an ex-con simply released from jail.
The film has no communicated, except for a video news report that describes what occurred that fateful night. The events surround a bag of cocaine that Jim is trying to promote. As Jim and Louis pull off at the diner, Jim runs off to the guys’ room to snicker a line within the bathroom stall. Impatiently waiting to apply the pinnacle, a police officer bangs on the door. Scared, the paranoid Jim kills the officer, consequently setting into motion the diner hostage state of affairs. Jim is loopy, cause glad and kills a few customers and employees for disobeying his order or trying to escape.
Did I point out there’s no communication in this film? What this means is that no one truly speaks and acts solely through facial expressions and body language. This is not a silent movie. We hear ambient noise, gunshots, and the movie’s soundtrack and score. I’ll start by way of announcing I do love this concept, mainly after seeing countless indie movies that pack the whole lot into their script-heavy script. The problem is the inconsistent use of non-verbal language.
When you establish a gimmick of no dialogue, you need to set guidelines and comply with them. Otherwise, you’re the use of a gimmick for gimmick’s sake. For about 80 percent of the movie, the no-speak rule is followed. What you see a lot is a nod of the head that says comply with me or a grin to indicate agreement to a proposition, and, of course, emotional expressions to deliver a feeling. But then there are seconds whilst human beings are talking, however, no sound comes out of their mouths as though their volume has been turned down, or characters gesturing in a scenario where they may talk, however, don’t…definitely due to the fact it’d violate the gimmick.
By the cease, I got the feeling that director Paul Dale and his co-creator Dylan McGovern just wanted to make a fab movie, and I must hand it to them, they type of pulled it off. Good sufficient to say, you should check it out. But there are loads taking place in this movie. Starting with a track selection that degrees from 80s techno to u. S. A. ./bluegrass to a spiritual of types all through a death scene. I like some of the track, but no longer all of it.
Transitions are also laced with fascinating imagery. My favorite is the diner grill cooking eggs for breakfast, a flame-broiled burger, and hash browns in a nasty-looking fryer. There are stock pictures of police vehicles and a stroll through a clinical office, that’s both inventories, or they snuck their cameras into a real medical office. Sneaky.
There’s additionally a tone problem. Jim is the coked-out crook and is often played for laughs, at the same time as Louis’ plight (together with the relaxation of the characters) are played critically. This reasons the movie to shift lower back-and-forth from comedy to drama and back once more. Also, the only talk is a news file broadcast from the no longer so distant future describing the occasions. The tone of the newscast feels like a movie narration in place of an actual information document.
The fine issue I can say approximately Fast Food & Cigarettes is that loads is going on, starting with the no words gimmick, its planned desire of tune, the couple of storylines, and plentiful use of flashbacks. It’s all around the place and, for the most part, it works… more regularly than it fails. This is a good deal of inconsistency that ought to have easily tipped the dimensions to failure, and plenty of visitors may also feel that way, but it’s a remember of taste, I suppose. For me, “A” for the attempt and the few cool moments, that’s worth the advice.
