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THREE STORIES
Written, Directed, and Photography by Eric MattimoreDave - A. Jackson Ford
Brian - John Michael Lando
Amber - Sarah Mann-Drake
David - Eric MattimoreI have a confession. It's really hard for me to review projects by moviemakers with whom I have had, or currently have, a working relationship. It prevents me from being totally unbiased and lenient, or even worse, by over compensating and being too harsh.
I haven't heard from Eric Mattimore in over 5 years when he e-mailed me about reviewing THREE STORIES. We were in the same production class at Wright State many moons ago, but we never really spoke much. I think the first time we ever said more than a passing hello occurred one evening when I took a date to the restaurant where he worked and convinced him to score the recipe for a marvelous Greek pasta dish he prepared. After that I shot some footage for Eric on a documentary about surveying. I hope he gave me a credit on that one, it was the last time I ever heard from him.
Imagine my surprise at Eric's e-mail. Or course Eric barely remembers me and had no idea who I was when he contacted me. After I told him who I was, his e-mail was vague, "i think we had some classes together..." Yes, Eric, I really hope you gave me that credit, and someday I'd like to see whatever became of that little documentary. Man, do I hate being dismissed...
All this has little to do with Eric's short film compilation THREE STORIES, but I thought I'd share. Of course I owe to Eric to be fair and honest with regard to his work, just like I do anyone else seeking reviews.
3 STORIES plays like the cinematic equivalent of O'Henry if he wrote flash fiction. The shorts are just that, short. They play out so quickly that they barely feel developed at all, but upon hindsight one sees that they do in fact contain all the elements necessary to tell a coherent story. Each story possesses a beginning, a middle, and an end, and there are characters with personalities developed just enough to provide the necessary conflict to make the stories interesting.
What makes 3 Stories so interesting is Mattimore's approach. A clean technical execution combined with dryly minimal storytelling provides a detached and clinical atmosphere of voyeuristic dread. As an audience, we're given small, direct glimpses into the lives of the character. The shorts ask us not to accept their supernatural and horrific elements blindly but take them and question the human elements and find validity in any moralistic point of view, if indeed there is any.
In the first story, titled simply ONE, Dave is getting his life back on track after years of stagnation in dark place. He rekindled his friendship with his father and has given up vice. With a renewed work ethic, Dave set out to lead a "good" life, but fate has something else in store for Dave. The harsh reality of life is that good things don't always befall good people, an idea I don't necessarily believe in. Perhaps I'm naive, but I'd like to think believe we make our own futures rather than fate, karma, or destiny. But I can't argue with Mattimore, accidents can happen to the best of us.
In TWO, Brian finds himself on the prowl for an erotic thrill. He finds Amber working the street corner and offers her a ride to a nearby hotel. While most hookers don't like to waste time talking about their life, that's exactly what Brian wants to know. He grills and probes, and Amber is more than willing to share. Her state of being is empty and pale, she's dead inside, exactly opposite of her jubilant and colorful name. A bottom feeder, Brian doesn't want to know how Amber arrived at this point in her life, only what she can do for him at this point in her life.
The third story, THREE, is the longest of the bunch. Mattimore takes center stage as David, a young man who is obsessed with cutting himself, and provides a chilling portrayal of a man numb to the world. Other than being a "cutter", David suffers from a more literal bloodlust than his predilection implies. He splits his time trying to score with a local dealer and his psychiatrist. Deep down David knows what he's doing in wrong, but he's prone to impulse and can't help himself. I've been purposely vague on what it is David spends his time trying to procure as the final images are doozies designed to build upon the misdirection of the preceding scenes.
Of all the shorts, only in THREE does Mattimore clearly say "this is wrong." He's left other concepts such as fate and choice up to viewer to decide upon for themselves, but with THREE Mattimore paints a darkly grim portraits of sick man whose doctor is oblivious to the bigger picture. The scariest part is Mattimore was as laconic in real life as he comes across on screen. He never said much nor did he ever show much emotion. Since he was always a sharp dresser I just figured his attitude was just to help score women, the brooding artist type, now I'm not so sure. He's damned creepy and perversely so.
I'm sure other critics will see THREE STORIES differently than I do. Some won't appreciate the quite moments of day to day life or their darky and abstract nature. Life isn't cut and dry, and that's why THREE STORIES works as well as it does. I hope Mattimore doesn't stay out of touch for as long this time, I'm really looking forward to what the guy can do next.