37 West
Cinephreak pictures
106 minutes
Written, edited, directed by Jakob Bilinski
Produced by Jakob Bilinski and Isaac Edwards
Web: http://www.cinephreakpictures.com/
Reviewer: Bob Estreich
Jakob Bilinski is a prolific independent
producer. This film dates back to his college days in 2002 – 2003. Shooting
took 2 ˝ weeks, but editing took the best part of a year as time and resources
allowed. The results were worth it, though – some of his other low budget films
could have done with a little more time on the editing, but this is slick and
very professional looking. As Bilinski’s budget improves, let’s hope he can
afford better cameras. Especially in low light, the quality drops markedly.
The story is about the after effects of an
armoured truck robbery. A badly injured and stressed out drifter drives into a
small town, stops for a badly-needed drink, and tells the people in the bar
about a chest of money he buried just out of town. He leaves, but the next day
others arrive looking for the chest. There is the owner of the money, bent on
its recovery and his revenge on the man who stole from him. The young and
inexperienced policeman is trying to track down the thief or thieves. Since
most of the town now also knows about the money, we also have two of the local
rednecks in the search. Into this mix come three young tourists who are stuck
in town for a couple of days while their car is fixed. One of them
inadvertently finds the money and all hell breaks loose as each group tries to
take it.
There are high levels of quite graphic
violence throughout the film. Although they are strongly relevant to the plot,
and show just how desperate some people are to get some money to get themselves
out of the dying town, I don’t think it’s going to survive the censors uncut.
Josh Gaboian in his role as Wiley, the
local redneck, is brilliant. He starts out as an obediant sidekick, but under
pressure he snaps and starts a killing spree. Gaboian particularly plays the
out-of-control Wiley with skill and even generates a certain amount of sympathy
– all he desperately wants is a new start. Bernadette Jantas makes the most of
her role as the bar owner and local mechanic. She plays it as street-wise,
friendly, but bored in the small town. In the final showdown will she be strong
enough to stand up to Wiley?
Tramel Raggs and Andrew Birnie are rather
unconvincing as the owner of the money and the policeman trying to track it
down. This is not because of their acting skills but because the script does
not allow their roles in the story to develop much. Their partnership is an
unlikely one, and the presence of a single detective also seems unlikely given
the amount of money involved. The script could perhaps have been polished a
little more, but how much can you do on a limited budget? Instead the film
relies on that curious thing about some successful independents – it works so
well because the cast and crew really believe in what they are doing and give
it their absolute best.
This review will appear in Volume 2:1
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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