UNCORKED

(director: EM Schrader; screenwriter: Phil Hall; cinematographer: EM Schrader; editor: EM Schrader; music: Fresh Music Library; cast: Phil Hall; Runtime: 40; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: EM Schrader/Aaron Sandler; Lightning Strikes Twice; 2011)

“The reasons for making this guerrilla-style film remain buried.“

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

EM Schrader (“Burial Boys”) directs this experimental short comedy. Phil Hall is the writer and only actor involved in the production. It was shot in real-time in a park in New Haven, Connecticut, on a budget of $10.00 (the cost of a bottle of cognac used as a prop).

On a winter afternoon an opinionated, gabby, drunk sits alone on a park bench drinking liquor from a bottle. In the presence of a camera crew who keep their static camera on him, the grumpy middle-aged man offers a non-stop improv stream-of-consciousness monologue on his blood pressure problem, his unhappy marriage, his contempt for Chinese products and a number of other things in which he offers his comical yahoo insensitive views. It maybe channels the late Spalding Gray or maybe should have, but without the renown storyteller’s ability to reach us with meaningful personal touches about his real life.

The reasons for making this guerrilla-style film remain buried. But, what the hell, it didn’t take much time, much money or much effort for it to get uncorked into a short film thanks to modern-day technology.

REVIEWED ON 1/22/2011