Do It (Short)
“Do It” is written and performed in the tradition of film noir, but it feels less like that seedy American underbelly and more like a simple character study into the psyche of a person who’s reached the edge of his rope with society. Like Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver,” Bernie (Russ Kingston) has had enough with the way the city around him (in Los Angeles) feels ready to self-destruct- he sees no good around him, only pain and suffering. This leads Bernie down an unsettling train of thought that makes the consequences for him and the city significant as he confides his plans to his therapist, without any regards to what that means for him. He has three days to decide what he is going to do, and it doesn’t promise to be an easy decision. More importantly, will be able to go through with what he feels he has to do?
Steve Petersen’s film isn’t as visually distinctive as “Taxi Driver” or any film noir that may have inspired him, but the look of the film suits the morally unnerving nature of the story all the same. It doesn’t do anything flashy, but it does reflect the reality Bernie’s mind lives in when we see his apartment (both inside and out) and the drug store he works at. These aren’t the pretty places we sometime associate with Los Angeles, but places that you might lock your car doors driving down. It makes for a gritty psychological drama, one that Kingston plays perfectly, leading up to the surprising final moments.
Do It from Steve Petersen on Vimeo.
