Just back from one summer camp (and about to be shipped off to another), a fume-huffing, bed-wetting teenaged boy (Steven Hamilton) wanders aimlessly through the quiet streets of his unexciting small town, attempting to come to terms with the feelings that he has for his best friend (Joseph Dodd), whilst also dealing with the break-up of his parents’ marriage. The film’s exquisite mise en scène and transporting sound design are of a quality that belies both the film-makers' youth and inexperience and the production’s very low budget, setting Chenault and chums out (with this their gently affecting, lugubriously paced, and near enough plotless debut) as talents to watch.
Two attractive strangers (Tim Hallahan & Bailey Gagliano) bond over a cigarette as they walk through the desolate, nocturnal streets of a quiet town in search of adventure and romance. Chenault’s beguiling short film begins as a pseudo silent piece, complete with romantic score, but gradually morphs into something more sublime as it progresses, with synchronised sound and eventually audible dialogue creeping in. Irreverent plotting, sublime photography, and outstanding sound design combine to really quite beautiful effect.
Different Drum | 2013 | ★★★★
Tod (Zach Zint), a flat-broke, directionless musician, and Lydia (Isabella DeVoy), his pregnant ex-girlfriend, embark on a zig-zaggy road trip from South Dakota to Indiana – ostensibly to attend a family wedding. Along the way they seek out various art works, frequent numerous bars, watch Night of the Living Dead in several motels, indulge in the odd spot of petit larceny, and even find time to seek out some (Lebowski-inspired) sarsaparilla in Sioux City. Inevitably, a number of decidedly low-key adventures ensue, often involving terribly nice stickup artists, lottery-winning Elvis-impersonators, bodily fluids, and eye patches. Coming somewhere between Wes Anderson and Aaron Katz, this quirky but downbeat and sensuous road movie proves great fun. The photography is gorgeous, the soundtrack seductive, the plotting unpredictable, and the performances quietly charismatic. Delightful.
Lattie | 2016 | ★★★
Kevin Chenault's fourth film, after two promising features and a sublime short, proves entertaining if not quite up to the standards set by his previous work. Its intriguing and ambitious if not entirely elegant mix of nonsensical plotting, absurdist humour, relaxed pacing, and somewhat experimental visuals is often great fun, though, with Chenault, himself, doing well in the lead role, as a young man with a potentially fatal brain tumour who takes to a diet of beer, cough syrup, and roll-ups after his diagnosis. The supporting cast, however, doesn't always prove quite so convincing, as his life – replete with murder, mystery, familial prodding, and an ever increasing threat of violence – becomes increasingly nightmarish. Likewise, or perhaps consequently, the dialogue is also possibly a little on the awkward side. That said, this is the first of his films to feature laugh-out-loud humour, and it's often genuinely very funny. Plus the film's technical aspects, particularly its photography and sound design, are as top notch as ever.
Tod (Zach Zint), a flat-broke, directionless musician, and Lydia (Isabella DeVoy), his pregnant ex-girlfriend, embark on a zig-zaggy road trip from South Dakota to Indiana – ostensibly to attend a family wedding. Along the way they seek out various art works, frequent numerous bars, watch Night of the Living Dead in several motels, indulge in the odd spot of petit larceny, and even find time to seek out some (Lebowski-inspired) sarsaparilla in Sioux City. Inevitably, a number of decidedly low-key adventures ensue, often involving terribly nice stickup artists, lottery-winning Elvis-impersonators, bodily fluids, and eye patches. Coming somewhere between Wes Anderson and Aaron Katz, this quirky but downbeat and sensuous road movie proves great fun. The photography is gorgeous, the soundtrack seductive, the plotting unpredictable, and the performances quietly charismatic. Delightful.
Kevin Chenault's fourth film, after two promising features and a sublime short, proves entertaining if not quite up to the standards set by his previous work. Its intriguing and ambitious if not entirely elegant mix of nonsensical plotting, absurdist humour, relaxed pacing, and somewhat experimental visuals is often great fun, though, with Chenault, himself, doing well in the lead role, as a young man with a potentially fatal brain tumour who takes to a diet of beer, cough syrup, and roll-ups after his diagnosis. The supporting cast, however, doesn't always prove quite so convincing, as his life – replete with murder, mystery, familial prodding, and an ever increasing threat of violence – becomes increasingly nightmarish. Likewise, or perhaps consequently, the dialogue is also possibly a little on the awkward side. That said, this is the first of his films to feature laugh-out-loud humour, and it's often genuinely very funny. Plus the film's technical aspects, particularly its photography and sound design, are as top notch as ever.
