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   Final Film Critique: 
   Pantomime

   Director:
Graham Ball
   Expected Rating: R due to language and                                adult themes
   Distribution: No Exclusive Distribution
   Budget: £150 (Approx. $270 US)
   Genre: Comedy

   Running Time: 80 minutes

   Release Dates: Dec. 15, 2005
   Website: http://www.s-i-afilms.co.uk
   Trailer: None Available

   Review Date:
February 15, 2006
   Reviewed By: Monica DeLeeuw-Taylor
Life is never easy for a struggling actor--especially for Brett Penny. Because of a freak accident several years back involving an illegally obtained broadsword and an 8 year old dressed up like a mushroom, he's been blacklisted from all theatre productions in Britain and, though he's auditioned for several major movies, has yet to break into the big time. So Brett hires a team of four aspiring filmmakers to help him make a show reel that he plans to send in to Hollywood. Using a tough-talking alter-ego of his own creation named "Masssive Johnson," Brett hopes to re-invent himself as the next great British action hero - despite the fact that Masssive Johnson has an American accent.

The film crew arrives at Brett's apartment, initially excited to do a show reel for an up-and-coming Hollywood movie star. However, after meeting and interviewing Brett, talking with his friends - or lack thereof - and attempting to shoot action sequences for his show reel, the crew soon comes to realize that Brett is an egomaniac who really knows nothing about martial arts, or acting for that matter. He is also probably gay and in denial, and is quite possibly bordering on insanity as the character of Masssive Johnson slowly takes over his life. The crew finishes the shoot anyway, and thankfully leaves, determined never to see Brett or Masssive Johnson again.

Content
This is a really interesting story. Even though it's more of a satirical comedy, I think it will still ring true for anyone who's struggling to break into the film industry - both for the actors like Brett who are trying to find their niche, and for the behind-the-scenes people like the director and his crew who have to take less-than-ideal jobs just to make ends meet.

There were a lot of really funny moments within the movie. For example, when the crew first arrives at Brett's apartment, Brett opens the door, shakes hands with Elden - the sound and continuity man - and then proceeds to pull him into the apartment alone, shutting the door in the face of the rest of the crew. There are many other references within the film to the possibility of Brett actually being gay as he continues to flirt with Elden throughout the shoot, until, at one point, he pulls out one of his headshots, autographs it for Elden, and includes his phone number. Later on, however, Brett gets very angry when he discovers that Elden has a girlfriend. This adds an interesting touch to the movie, since people often wonder whether today's uber-masculine action stars are really straight or just in denial.

Brett Penny is a man desperately
in need of re-invention...
...which is why he creates his alter
ego: Masssive Johnson!!!

The look of the film was unique - instead of being a cohesive story, it was edited to be more like continuous raw footage from the shoot. The raw footage was shown in black and white, and the film concluded with Brett's finished show reel - shown in color - the estimated cost of which was £18 (approximately $32 US). Some of the scenes in the middle of the film tended to drag on a bit in places, but nothing that really needs to be significantly cut down, since this does fit in with the rough-footage look.

Visual Look
Because of the rough format of the film, it's difficult to notice a lot of technical problems - this is a huge plus for indy filmmakers, because anything that looks like a poor technical issue usually enhances the look of the film rather than detracting from it.

I also liked the fact that the majority of the film was in black and white. As indy filmmakers know, black and white hides a multitude of sins - so long as you have a valid reason for using it. In this case, the black and white footage matched well with the raw footage look that the director was going for - I think it probably would have looked better than the color version. Also, there weren't really any contrast issues in the black and white sequences that I noticed, as is often the case when shooting in this format.

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