Cut From Home
There’s something unusually beautiful about this movie. It wears its’ low-budget heart on its’ sleeve, but there are moments of visual and emotional beauty that make the story come alive.
Written and directed by first-timer Jason Shahinfar, and filmed in and around Savannah, Ga., the film stars Sam Mallo and Dani Niedzielski as a young couple struggling with the past. Walking around Savannah, they encounter (and alienate) friends, are taken in by an older couple who allows Sam to do some work, fight with one another- for reasons spoken and unspoken- and seem aimless in their direction in life.
Shahinfar has a talent for getting well-developed and natural performances out of non-professional actors. And there are several times when his low-budget digital photography produces some truly beautiful moments that are fleeting compared to the heartbreak our characters feel. Flashbacks reveal some of the past pains that infuse Sam and Dani’s harsh reality.
These aren’t always easy people to follow. They’re selfish, fragile, and sometimes frightening in their blasse view of their new world. But Shahinfar knows that life isn’t easy, people aren’t always simple to figure out, and it’s never easy to move on.
