Desert Noir (Short)
Emily Needell’s “Desert Noir” starts off as an obvious piece of film geek filmmaking, as one of the patrons of a small town bar discusses how Quentin Tarantino’s video store beginnings mean that his video store experience could lead to a career in Hollywood, and becomes a different piece of film geek filmmaking, a genre exercise that isn’t subtle in it’s style. That it stays entertaining all the way through it’s 13 1/2 minutes is a credit to the interesting character writing and plot twists Needell works into the story, which includes: the aforementioned patron (Russ Kingston), a bartender whose enjoyment of “Cloverfield” annoys his customer (Tony Ketcham), a femme fatale made up to look like Marilyn Munroe (Eva Augustina Sinotte), and a detective on the trail of a killer (Jason Masek). How the pieces add up is for you to figure out by watching the film for yourself. Overall, there’s not really a great film here (it’s a little too obviously performed, and not very organically constructed, for that), but it’s a witty, winking good time for fans of genre and filmmaking conventions.
