FADE TO BLACK 13

FADE TO BLACK 13
The Usual Suspects:
Roman Berman
C.C. Chapman
April Cresey/Santo
RDan Gorgone
Frank Parker
Jason Santo
Joe Vaccariello
This review of Random Foo's FADE TO BLACK episode 13 is being written long after the show's death, and it's sad to think that there won't be any more installments ever produced. Other than the occassional hour to two devoted to short films on Independent Film Channel or Sundance, there really isn't a steady forum showcasing what can be achieved with the short film. At its most uninhibited, FADE TO BLACK represented the exciting possibilities that can be achieved by filmmakers willing to take chances with filmic conventions and aesthetics, bending them in unique fashions to tell tales brimming with vibrance and a true love for storytelling. At its worst, FADE TO BLACK was a damn fun way to kill time by watching people doing what they love, making movies, and having a good time doing so.
This particular episode features two shorts, each directed by FTB regulars Dan Gorgone and Jason Santo. While each short stands well on its own respective merits, both work well and play off each other's themes, which was an element lacking from other installments which sometimes felt cobbled together by whatever shorts had been completed at that particular date.
First up is Dan Gorgone's Voice of Reason, where a young husband's infidelities lead to a battle of wills between the various moralistic entities that comprise the young man's consciousness. Do you remember the old Looney Toones cartoons where Sylvester would be ready to stuff Tweenty down his throat and up would pop little angle and devil versions of the cat? That's what you have here - literally. Director Gorgone plays both devil and angel to Rob Molea's adulterous husband.
The angel/devil routine has been done before, most notably in Kevin Smith's JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, but Gorgone adds an O'Henry-esque twist providing a black hearted punchline to the seemingly pedestrian story. Questions regarding right and wrong give way to statements regarding the temptations to which we all fall prey during moments of weakness.
Societal comments aside, the most impressive aspect of Voice of Reason is the effects. Gorgone, who I'm pretty sure doesn't have a twin brother, plays both roles on screen at once in seemless split screen fashion. Even in Hollywood features, one can usually find the point of reference, often an inconsequential vertical line created by background fluff in the art direction. Apparent consumer editing tools are now just as powerful as professional...and I've had my head buried under a rock.
Following Voice of Reason is Sykes Tangent and the Angel of Death from director Jason Santo, who plays up every conceivable action cliche known to man is this tale of a cop who can communicate with death itself. Consider these lines of dialogue:
Death: I'm hear to take your soul, Sykes Tangent.
Sykes: Not now, I'm busy.
When Santo, as Sykes, delivered his line to death I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself. Delivered with complete deadpan expression, the lines perfectly convey everything that represented the now extinct unstopable action hero of the 80's and 90's. It shows the clear-cut virosity to which he would achieve his goal and at the same time lampoons the single-minded nature of the characters who not even death itself can persuade a moment of reason.
To nit-pick, the short falters from moments of exposition marred by impromptu performances. The dialogue feels forcebly off-the-cuff, especially in a scene in a car shared by Santo and Gorgone as Sykes' partner Jaxon Stone. In a moment of anti-buddy movieness, Sykes brings Stone up to speed on his dealings with death. While spot-on in delivery, the dialogue is too pointed and looses the capricious spontanity of the rest of the movie, which as a whole, is still probably Jason Santo's most breathless production.
As stated previously, the etherial nature of both productions work well off one another. Together, the two shorts create a look at the duality of man and his human frailties, and yet they forego the pretentiousness of taking themselves to seriously. The result is probably the most satisfying FADE TO BLACK I've seen to date. You get a lesson in humanity and have fun doing so.
Random Foo