Beneath the Veneer of a Murder (2010)

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Angel Connell returns, messing with his audience's minds and attention spans. This is a short film- seven and a half minutes short. The film opens with credits, and a phone conversation that eventually leads to a murder. I can't go into the specific details, but the film is so brief, you can watch it multiple times.

I watched "Beneath the Veneer of a Murder" twice. Background information on the film shows that Connell wants his audience to question what they see and hear in this era of bait-and-switch governing and news reporting. I cannot be the only one to get caught up in a news channel's ticker, and ignore the talking heads, and vice versa. Our government officials do this sort of thing all the time, catering to their base supporters, offering olive branches to the opposition, catering to the opposition, offering olive branches to the betrayed base. Connell does not show us this tactic on a big scale. He satisfies our base movie going needs- sex and violence through conversations and little onscreen action. The final conversation over the end credits is so outlandish, I laughed out loud. Connell comes through with technical proficiency yet again (with great editing by Christo Tsiaras) and is pointing out some big ideas. The film makes you think- is it really just about a small-time hood and a murder?

This is a great experiment in short film making, and I haven't been challenged this much since I saw the feature length "FrICTION" around the same time. Really good stuff, this would make an interesting double bill with Connell's "Stocking Stuffers," also featuring Scheiner and Scott Cashman.

Stats:
(2010) 8 min. (* * * * *) out of five stars
-Written and Directed by Angel Connell
-Cast: Christy Scott Cashman, Eric Scheiner, Mark Grant, Jennifer McCartney, Angel Connell
(Not Rated)