The days and remembrances of high school. Most of us have experienced those years, of social awkwardness and spending more time trying to get laid than trying to get straight A's. As a matter of fact, high school has been a popular theme in movies; about social awkwardness and trying to get laid. For many of us high school was also about being involved; whether that be with clubs, the school newspaper, or juggling our social circles. Not all high school movies are about social awkwardness and getting laid though. Along comes Dirty Books, a short subject which not not only tells a compelling story, but offers more satisfaction in a smart film of under 16 minutes than many, and I do mean MANY, films do in 90 minutes.
David, the editor of his high school's newspaper, is faced with an all too contemporary problem; his printed school newspaper is going to be phased out in favor of a school blog. In order to save his paper, David has to come up with a story that will get attention...even if he has to create that story himself.
There are several things which impressed me with this film, and I wish all too much contemporary filmmakers would take lessons from it. The direction and cinematography are excellent, as is the tight editing; there is not a dead moment or filler scene in this. Zachary Lapierre, the director, and Ian Everhart, the cinematographer, are obviously good judges of composition and perspective which are used to good effect in an excellently directed film, and why I chose to use the group shot of the cast for this review, over the poster, as it is a wonderful example of group composition.
I am finding out more and more what a good actor Timothy J. Cox is. I bring this up not only because he plays the school principal, Dr. Bradley, in this, but to also use him as a yardstick to rave about what a great job Noah Bailey does in the lead role of David. Cox is a seasoned actor, yet Bailey holds his own very well in scenes with the two of them together. I don't normally like to do comparisons, but Noah Bailey reminds me in some ways of Zach Braff, both having a self-assured confidence without being cocky. Keep your eyes on this young actor for great things to come in my opinion.
The cast as a whole is fantastic. The writing is natural and leaves no lingering dialogue. There are some subtexts to the story which I will not go into as it is only a 16 minute movie, and it would be more meaningful for you discover what they mean to you. I have an itch that the writers of this were fans of the show Scrubs, but I just can't scratch that itch and I'll leave it at that. Overall it is simply well done. Dirty Books is a high school comedy done smartly.
I give it a full 5 Daggers!
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