Auteur (2014)
Starring B.J. Hendricks, Ian Hutton, Tom Sizemore
Directed by G. Cameron Romero
Distributed by Music Video Distributors (MVD)
I’m not going to be one of those naysayers who’ll use the excuse of “you’ll never fill your father’s shoes,” and as far as G. Cameron Romero’s Auteur is concerned, I’m willing to give him a pass on this one. While not exactly earth-shattering, it’s not the worst product that’s been put out on the morgue slab for dissection.
While the senior Romero broke the doors down way back in 1968 with a little movie about zombies entitled Night of the Living Dead (perhaps you all have heard of it), his son has taken the reins and put forth quite a bit of work in a short amount of time with numerous writing, producing, and directing stints etched on his resume. With this particular feature, he gives a semi-serious look at the indie filmmaking industry (with a few jabs here and there) in a story of a director named Charlie Buckwald (Hutton) who simply ups and vanishes from the dim limelight after the completion of his latest movie, Demonic.
While this could loosely be looked at as a slightly derivative example of The Hills Run Red, Romero uses a different shade in order to deliver his vision, with James Cullen Bressack (Hate Crime), Michael Sean Gomez, and JD Fairman on board as screenwriters; and this pseudo-documentary plants its seeds in the “thriller” garden but sprinkles some atypical humor in the soil to break up the seriousness.
As the trail for the missing director heats up, our main man in front of the lens, Jack Humphreys (Hendricks), tries to connect with his inner bloodhound, searching for clues as to Buckwald’s exodus and speaking with former stars (including Tom Sizemore in a very odd cameo appearance) and associates, with each offering varying levels of concern and stories to tell about the dispersed overseer.
As the hunt drags on, Humphreys does finally manage to locate Buckwald, who seems to be slipping further away from reality, and secures an interview in order to shed a little light on just why the subject matter of his final film was brought into question, ultimately reducing the director into a man on the run. With what seems like a clock-chewing series of on-camera interviews, the movie does move along at a decent pace, and with the aforementioned quirky laughs, the slower scenes are broken up nicely. Don’t look to be shuddering in terror, however, as the scare meter is painfully low… as are some of the performances.
Okay, now that all of the pros and cons have been strewn about in front of you all, it’s time to weigh in as to whether or not you should invest your time in this presentation. My advice? Sit back, press play, and drink some alcoholic beverages – it usually helps me muddle through when people are droning on and on endlessly. Better days are ahead of you, young Romero… you’ve just got to ride out the storms.
http://youtu.be/CrL62gjsVig
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
