A coming of age movie, I got a special opportunity to watch this over the weekend. The film that says we all did stupid things in our teenage years, from setting things on fire to plotting revenge schemes. What? That’s how my teenage years went.
This hilarious super short yet interesting film was written by Edward Kay, directed by Alex Richardson, and produced by Harrison Houde, who also acted in it.
First off, we start with three teens, Tyler, Julie, and Richard (Harrison Houde, Sydney Scotia, and Zachary Gulka) spending their Labour day weekend doing whatever in their quaint little town of Port Shuswap (filmed in Jamestown). Along comes the local police chief Johnson (Eric Breker) who curiously asks what the kids are up to before they leave town for good. They guarantee it’s nothing bad, but Chief Johnson says he’ll be keeping an eye on things.
Eventually their friend Brandon (Bal Nagra) joins them and they indulge in their favourite game, truth or dare. When Julie is dared to break into an old log cabin, she invites the boys along for the experience. They break in easily, only to discover no ancient appliances but an energy drink can, a magazine, and ingredients for making crystal meth. Things get cut dangerously short when Robinson (Reese Alexander) and his associate Steel Toes (Alex Zahara) come back and find Richard as an intruder, threatening to burn him alive. It’s only then does everyone realize how much trouble they can get into.
This was a hilarious film to watch. I can really relate to a situation like this in a weird way. The story was well established, the shots were amazing, even the use of real fire was incredible. Shooting over three days, they arranged the lighting pretty well to make it look like they were shooting late when it was most likely daytime. Even the dialogue is memorable, bringing on rather entertaining quotations such as “Sayonara, F***-face!”
A worthwhile film and I hope it succeeds in getting praise at film festivals in the near future.