David Prokopchuk is at it again, having made another short film using an old style shot in a modern day. Since I liked his last one so much, I felt a desire to check out this one as well. Meet Cornelius (Rowan Jang), a young man who doesn’t really have a lot of dreams or aspirations, if any at all. He spends the majority of his days working at a shop that sells used tires. Y’know, the kinds that have probably only experienced 10 trips on the road at most. One day, Cornelius takes notice of a pretty young damsel (Kathleen Keatings) who approaches his business. Already, he is in love and asks for her hand, but there’s only one or two problems: She’s the mayor’s stepdaughter and he doesn’t approve of her dating. Why is that? Because somehow, Mr. Mayor (Derek Morrison) believes she is responsible for her mother’s death. Yeah, he’s one of those overprotective types. You kind of have to be when everyone expects you to make decisions while running the town. But the next day, Cornelius discovers the mayor has met up with an insurance salesman (Reg Rozee) who gives him a life insurance policy document that the mayor intends to use on his daughter for sinister purposes. Cornelius goes to warn the mayor’s step daughter and they plan to escape together. But first, they’ll have to face the evil mayor and his dastardly devious plan to make the distressed damsel die.
Thanks to standards of films nowadays, you don’t see too many films done in silent film style with the old fashioned cameras or with a single piano in the soundtrack, but it’s nice to see a production made like this once in a while. It reminds what the first movies were like before all the colours, CGI, and craziness. The actors are locals well known around Vancouver’s film community, which gives one a sense of familiarity. There isn’t much to the set design, given most of it is shot outdoors, but the costumes are well done, giving it a nice and easy appearance. Once again, it shows not everything has to be super complex, sometimes simply made films are much better. Like one of my former instructors once said, Less is More. The editing is exactly on par with the style of subtitles and grainy filters of the first films, making the best authenticity I’ve seen. It’s a great and interesting film and I’m hoping to see a series be made of it. After all, it did end on a cliffhanger. Who knows what could happen next?
