John Humphreys

Chronic

Directed with urgency and energy

On Christmas Eve Carl sets out to go to a party.  On the way he drops into his dealers house in order to get his fix first.  While there his dealer pops out for a bit leaving Carl in the flat.  However it&apos;s then that two very big guys come round with the intention of beating the dealer up - and Carl can&apos;t convince them that he is who he claims to be.

Shown as part of the Birmingham Film Festival this short was one of eight to be shown that were produced by Screen West Midlands and were predominately set in the Midlands using Midlands based actors and crew.  This short opened well and quickly became one of the superficially stronger shorts of the evening.  The direction is punchy and creates a real sense of tension and drama.

Even better is the use of soundtrack.  It is urgent and broody and really does create a good sense of tension.  Sadly the plot is weak when viewed from outside.  I may have misread it but I wasn&apos;t gripped and didn&apos;t have enough information to get into the character or the plot.  However it has great energy and urgency that kept me interested.

The performances are so-so and seem more focused on swearing and acting tough like all the movies they watched growing up rather than bringing out character.  Overall though the energy of the direction and soundtrack make this quite watchable despite the weaknesses in the central plot.

On Christmas Eve Carl sets out to go to a party.  On the way he drops into his dealers house in order to get his fix first.  While there his dealer pops out for a bit leaving Carl in the flat.  However it's then that two very big guys come round with the intention of beating the dealer up - and Carl can't convince them that he is who he claims to be.

Shown as part of the Birmingham Film Festival this short was one of eight to be shown that were produced by Screen West Midlands and were predominately set in the Midlands using Midlands based actors and crew.  This short opened well and quickly became one of the superficially stronger shorts of the evening.  The direction is punchy and creates a real sense of tension and drama.

Even better is the use of soundtrack.  It is urgent and broody and really does create a good sense of tension.  Sadly the plot is weak when viewed from outside.  I may have misread it but I wasn't gripped and didn't have enough information to get into the character or the plot.  However it has great energy and urgency that kept me interested.

The performances are so-so and seem more focused on swearing and acting tough like all the movies they watched growing up rather than bringing out character.  Overall though the energy of the direction and soundtrack make this quite watchable despite the weaknesses in the central plot.

bappamtv

Chronic

🎬 Technical Specs

🎯 Categories

⭐ Featured Review

📖 Synopsis