Meet Jennifer. Jennifer is sitting at a trendy restaurant, awaiting the arrival of her fiancé, Justin, so that she can break up with him over dinner. She’s planned out what she’s going to say, even practicing her tirade to Justin’s empty chair while she’s waiting. Except there’s one small problem… as the minutes pass, Justin doesn’t show up. As Jennifer continues to wait (and consume a few glasses of wine), her own insecurities begin to reveal themselves as she tries to repeatedly call Justin, leaving several messages on his voicemail. The longer she waits, the more her doubts gnaw at her as she wonders if perhaps this is his way of breaking up with her. However, at the very end, the truth of the situation is revealed with an amusing twist.
The performance by actress Clare Cortese (Jennifer) is excellent. It’s no easy task for an actor/actress to carry most of a film (even a very short one) all by themselves, but she does a great job in showing Jennifer’s gradual unraveling throughout the evening. Her progressively desperate series of phone messages throughout the evening reminds me of the scene in Swingers where, in the course of 3½ minutes, Mike (played by Jon Favreau), leaves 6 messages for a girl he just met; in the first message, he asks her out, but by the last one, he’s decided that they need to break up.
The story was well-written and smoothly paced. However, I did feel that the twist at the end was much too brief after such a big buildup; the ending scene was only 14 seconds long (compared to the preceding 5:12), and I had to watch it again to catch the punchline. Because you’ve worked so hard to build up the story to a certain point, linger over the twist at the end a bit so that the audience can absorb, understand, and appreciate it.
The overall look of the film was very good. The lighting was great, balanced and even throughout, and the locations were well-chosen. For the most part, the camerawork was good; however, it was noticeably shaky at the beginning when Jennifer is giving her breakup monologue to Justin’s empty chair. The first part of that scene is a single uninterrupted take lasting for 1:10; the last part of her monologue is another single take that lasts for 30 seconds, and ends in a steadicam shot that swings over Jennifer’s shoulder, revealing the empty chair. Because the shots are so long and are so close in on the character, the shakiness stands out even more. This can be avoided by using a dolly instead of a steadicam; that way, the camera can be mounted on a tripod, and still be able to achieve the reveal. (Of course, you could also just do a couple more takes with the steadycam to try to get a perfect one, as setting up the dolly can be time intensive.)
The editing was good overall, although I felt that some of the shots of other patrons at the lounge seemed a bit awkward and random. There were few shots that showed the progression of time throughout the evening, and more of those would’ve been helpful (e.g. transition shots of a clock showing 7:10, then 7:25, then 7:45; one or two shots of Jennifer getting her wine glass refilled, etc.). That way, the audience has a better understanding of why Jennifer feels SO desperate, because they have an idea of how long she’s been there. Also, the shots that featured Jennifer’s waiter had him looking directly at the camera; unless there is a specific reason for the character to do that, such shots should be avoided, because the effect essentially breaks the fourth-wall. (While breaking the fourth wall is funny if it's blatant and intentional, like when Matthew Broderick talks to the camera in Ferris Bueler's Day Off, it seems like an error to most film watchers otherwise.)
The music and sound design were excellent. As I’ll explain in the “Budget” section, Mr. Marino put a good deal of attention into the audio, which (as we’ve discussed frequently here in the magazine) is incredibly important. However, because the audio for the entire film was so great, it made the hostess’s nearly inaudible dialogue stand out like a sore thumb. It’s not that the ambient noise overcomes her, it’s just that her dialouge audio is incredibly soft. Because so much care clearly went into the rest of the audio in the film, I am left wondering why this one obvious irregularity wasn’t fixed. (Remember, for most films, dialogue should be mixed to -12 dB, with music beds at -18 dB, and sound effects at -6 dB.)
