I stumbled upon this short film from indie Rainmaker Films, and was moderately impressed. The story was smart, though the writing was littered with clichés ... I think the film works well visually, and I was interested enough to watch it several times, so there's clearly something here that with work could have become a marketable modern noir film. However, as it stands, it is too short, the script is forced to tell a fairly complicated story in sixteen minutes, and that forces the viewer to come along for a ride they may not fully have followed. And the twist seems tacked on, almost an afterthought (or perhaps too well thought out for it to really work ... I had a hard time suspending my disbelief, despite noticing the setups throughout). I liked the indie actor who played Jimmy Ritz, though, and would like to see more of this Todd Licea (he seems like a combination of Edward Norton's compelling voice, with a screen presence like John Cusack). In the end, I gave this film a six for its potential. I'd like to see more of what Rainmaker Films has to offer, that's for damned sure.
