For the Love of Film

We enjoyed "For the Love of the Film," at the top of Atom Film's drama offerings at the moment. A showing of "Star Wars" falters and the manager tells the audience, they must call upon "The Force." In this case, "The Force" is a metaphor of the power fantasy has to transform reality for us, in particular, "The Force" movies exert. This audience inhabits the movie for a short, joyous participatory moment or three.

It reminds me audience participation at Midnight Movies such as "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Fair warning: not everyone at Atom Films loved it. One reviewer thought it one of the "dumbest offerings" he'd ever seen there. We find those Atom film folks dismissive and somewhat dim at times.

Director and co-producer and writer (with Troy Metcalf, who also heads the cast) Barry Curtis does a good job of pacing this short. I love the theatre setting and the odd memories it evokes. The device of shifting from black and white to color is getting a bit tired, perhaps, but actually does work here. Nice use of the wide screen ratio and good work by David Leopold, director of photography give it a big screen feel at short length.

The cast did a great job, relaxed and having fun with it. They are Troy Metcalf, Gary Curtis, Jackson Curtis, Nate Levy, Teri Jones, Sion Wong, Edward Kelly, Canedy Knowles, Kristian Deluccia, Jason Levenson, Andrea McCormick, Justin Deluccia, Elizabeth Viscusi, Stephanie Smith, Misty Leung, and Karla Mosley.

Rating: 17 of 24 frames.