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MONDAY MORNING
Produced by Benjamin P. Ablao Jr.and Anthony Spadaccini
Directed and Edited by Anthony Spadaccini
Written by Rebecca Lynne and Anthony Spadaccini
Directors of Phography - John Larsen and Anthony SpadacciniTrevor - Nate Edwards
Rude Woman - Rebecca Lynn
Bum - James Schaeffer
Gay Teen - Bobby Hamilton
Impatient man - Spadaccini"Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays."
Never have truer words been spoken. Who doesn't hate waking up from a long slumber surrounded by soft pillows and a warm blanket? Cold showers and oat bran ambush your sweet dreams and the only thing you have to look forward to for the next four, maybe five days is the exact same ritual every morning. Sometimes it's not so bad as you develop a pattern and it becomes second nature. You don't enjoy it. It is just a part of you. But some days nothing can go right from the get go, and this is the premise for Anthony Spadaccini's short film MONDAY MORNING.
One morning Trevor decides to sleep in, but the alarm clock keeps attacking his rest. Although Trevor is able to fend off consciousness for a while longer he finally does awaken, only to realize he is extremely late for work. He calls work to inform his boss he is running late when his boss tells him he can either get to work, pronto, or find other employment. Trevor goes for option one and in a rush Trevor hops in the shower. He can't even get the curtain to seal off the shower, so he ignores it and moves onto shampooing his hair. Oh wait, the cap falls off. The bar of soap is miniature. Clean towels? Not in Trevor's house. If anything can go wrong, it does.
While the story is straightforward, it is easy to get involved in MONDAY MORNING, at least the first few minutes. Everybody has had words with their alarm at one time or another, and I too have had a run in with a showerhead spewing cold water. It is simple little gags like these that really provide the characterization for Spadaccini's short. We don't need to know Trevor's back-story, or really anything about him. Every workingman, or woman, can relate to Trevor's plight.
But while the film has a lead character anyone can relate too, the film falls flat on it's face after the two minute mark as the gags become run of the mill. While many people seem to think good slapstick is someone falling down, there is a rhythm to be had. Sadly, MONDAY MORNING has no rhythm. When Trevor does something clumsy, he screams. The process goes on and on, and while this is only a ten-minute short film, it feels five minutes too long.
That's not to say the film is a complete miss. The lead actor, Nate Edwards, does seem to have the physical action down, but seeing him scream over and over got tiresome. A different facial expression would have been nice. For the most part the film looks good, shot in black and white with no dialogue, just the words written on frames when the characters say something out-loud. Just looking at it from a technical standpoint it is obvious the film was never meant to be anything more than a throwback to the old-fashioned slapstick of the twenties, but what good is a comedy if you don't laugh?
Light-hearted giggles are to be had in the first few minutes of MONDAY MORNING, but it runs out of steam fast. It is hard not to give credit to Spadaccini for taking a chance and shooting something different from what the usual micro cinema crowd churns out, but an overlong short is still too long.
Review written by Gordon Loving, 2/07