Rating: C
Dir: Dallas Ryan
Star: Dallas Ryan, Chloe Gay Brewer, Ryan Vania, Stephen Thomas Abbott
There’s no question about the potential in the high concept here. David (Ryan) wakes to find his daughter Sophia missing, apparently abducted by an unknown party, who has left a cellphone. This is used to contact David, who is then ordered to complete a number of repellent tasks if he wants to see Sophia alive again: for example, dressing up as a Nazi and telling his business’s best customer how much he admires Hitler. But then he is sent a picture of the kidnapper with Sophia, and everything is upended. Because the perpetrator looks exactly like David, missing only the mustache he has had for twenty years. What the hell is going on?
Various theories are thrown out there, involving time-travel, clones and more. It eventually settles down into one of the possibilities, and reveals some uncomfortable truths about David’s past – both known and unknown. Though it’s hard to forget this is basically one guy, talking to himself on the phone for approaching two hours. The film would probably need to star Sir Laurence Olivier, working from a script by Alfred Hitchcock, and directed by Orson Welles, for it to be truly successful. Writer, director and almost the sole actor Ryan is just a little short across the board, and this definitely strays toward self-indulgence at some points. However, it’s no Sophie and the Serial Killers in that department, Ryan somehow failing to include any musical numbers.
We do get a two minute, twelve second sequence – I know, because I timed it – of David having a pee and pulling faces. I think the goal here may have been some kind of Lynchian absurdity, since there are a few points elsewhere which do have a Lost Highway-esque sense of surrealness, aided by deliberately incongruous music. The extended urination scene was not one of them, though I was impressed with the size of the character’s bladder. In a theatre, it’d likely send half the audience scampering for the bathroom in sympathy. Ryan the director also, especially early on, has a habit of awkwardly inserting a chunk of black screen into scenes. It felt an affectation, and irritated me. Fortunately, he either gave up, or I stopped noticing later on.
I’d say Ryan the actor is the strongest of the trio, and given he’s on screen almost non-stop, that’s definitely helpful. There are times where the raw intensity on view is surprising, and this helps overcome sloppy elements such as the “Nazi” uniform which doesn’t even extend to a swastika. It did just about sustain my interest to the end, although there isn’t much plot development down the stretch, and the film gently deflates rather than building to a climax. It would work considerably better about thirty minutes shorter, and to that end, I notice the complete absence of any ‘Editor’ listed in the end credits. Maybe next time, Ryan the producer can hire Ryan the editor. Or his evil twin.
The film is available on demand here.