Mallas, MA (2013; Indie Short Subject) - You're traveling to do another con job, a con job not only of sight and sound but of ghosts. A journey into a superstitious town whose residents are that gullible. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, Mallas, MA!
Brian and Maria are not just buddies, but con artist buddies. They have devised a plan, using Brian's latest invention, to con an entire town into believing they have a ghost problem and Brian and Maria are the cure. But things don't exactly go according to plan.
Nor will this review go according to plan, or more appropriately according to my usual review. The difference here is the film I am reviewing was made for a 48 Hour Film Project in which all the participants are given a genre, a character, a line and a prop which must be used in the film. They then have 48 hours to script and/or improvise a story, shoot the film, and edit & score it. That's quite a challenge. To me, as I've said before in other reviews that I will rate a film within its context, I need to take the challenge itself into consideration and how the film fares under those circumstances.
The parameters and requirements they were given at the 2013 48 Hour Film Project in Boston:
Genre: Buddy Film
Character: Brian or Bonnie Higgins, an Inventor
Prop: A net
Line of dialogue: "Believe me, it's worth it"
All of the ingredients are in the film. Timothy J. Cox takes on the role of the required character, and that would be playing "Brian" Higgins for you smart alecs asking which one he played. It is a buddy film with Maria Natapov playing Maria Synder, who is buddies with Brian Higgins, together they are con artists looking for a score using Brian's latest invention, also a required ingredient. The prop is only required to be in a scene and not required to be an action element, and of course it is in there. Cox's character gets the line "Believe me, it's worth it."
Before I had realized this was a 48 Hour Film Project entrant, 48 Hour Film Project being prominently displayed at the beginning was apparently not overly obvious enough for my sometimes dense self to get it, I was leaning toward a 3 on a rating. It just feels like it's missing something, kind of leaving you scratching your head at the end. On the upside it is fun. Timothy J. Cox and Maria Natapov share a good chemistry on screen and that makes it fun; and that's at the core of the success of a buddy film is the chemistry between the buddies. The plot of two con artists posing as ghost hunters is a fun one.
Then comes the realization this was done start to finish, all ingredients from writing to the final edit, in 48 hours. That changes the context of rating the film. What they have accomplished within that context is beyond expectations, for me. It's a talented cast at work under the direction of the enormously talented Sean Meehan. Cox and Meehan working together is an indication great things are going to happen, and in only 48 hours they have proven it.
I give it 4 Daggers
Brian and Maria are not just buddies, but con artist buddies. They have devised a plan, using Brian's latest invention, to con an entire town into believing they have a ghost problem and Brian and Maria are the cure. But things don't exactly go according to plan.
Nor will this review go according to plan, or more appropriately according to my usual review. The difference here is the film I am reviewing was made for a 48 Hour Film Project in which all the participants are given a genre, a character, a line and a prop which must be used in the film. They then have 48 hours to script and/or improvise a story, shoot the film, and edit & score it. That's quite a challenge. To me, as I've said before in other reviews that I will rate a film within its context, I need to take the challenge itself into consideration and how the film fares under those circumstances.
The parameters and requirements they were given at the 2013 48 Hour Film Project in Boston:
Genre: Buddy Film
Character: Brian or Bonnie Higgins, an Inventor
Prop: A net
Line of dialogue: "Believe me, it's worth it"
All of the ingredients are in the film. Timothy J. Cox takes on the role of the required character, and that would be playing "Brian" Higgins for you smart alecs asking which one he played. It is a buddy film with Maria Natapov playing Maria Synder, who is buddies with Brian Higgins, together they are con artists looking for a score using Brian's latest invention, also a required ingredient. The prop is only required to be in a scene and not required to be an action element, and of course it is in there. Cox's character gets the line "Believe me, it's worth it."
Before I had realized this was a 48 Hour Film Project entrant, 48 Hour Film Project being prominently displayed at the beginning was apparently not overly obvious enough for my sometimes dense self to get it, I was leaning toward a 3 on a rating. It just feels like it's missing something, kind of leaving you scratching your head at the end. On the upside it is fun. Timothy J. Cox and Maria Natapov share a good chemistry on screen and that makes it fun; and that's at the core of the success of a buddy film is the chemistry between the buddies. The plot of two con artists posing as ghost hunters is a fun one.
Then comes the realization this was done start to finish, all ingredients from writing to the final edit, in 48 hours. That changes the context of rating the film. What they have accomplished within that context is beyond expectations, for me. It's a talented cast at work under the direction of the enormously talented Sean Meehan. Cox and Meehan working together is an indication great things are going to happen, and in only 48 hours they have proven it.
I give it 4 Daggers
P.S. There is a scene in the end credits, so don't stop watching when the credits roll. And do keep your eyes open for their follow-up film Mallas, Aforethought; bwhahahaha, that's a joke, son.
Availability
Watch it on Vimeo.
Check out its IMDB page.
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