Copyright © 2005 Jay-Jay Campbell
The word is on the street that the world of cinema as we know it
is about to change. And what on God's green earth is the reason
for this oh-so-long awaited change? Is it another bill passing
that will forever ban the "F" word from the movies? The health
institute of America banning the sale of fatty foods at the
theatres? Or could it be another wave of such originality that
will remind us what it's really like to go to the movies?
Fortunately, we get to keep our fatty foods and the raunchiness
in our dialogues and most importantly, we get to watch the fresh
wave of talent that will sweep across Hollywood like it did when
Pulp Fiction came out, or Sixth Sense or Memento. This time
around, it's another independent film – could you expect this
from studios – called Machiavelli Hangman.
When a studio film has a decent storyline it does very well at
the box-office. When a low-budget independent film has a great
storyline it gets noticed and becomes the sleeper hit of the
year. To exceed those levels of success and actually change
Hollywood conventions without having a gargantuous budget, that
independent film must be a hell-of-a good entertainment ride.
"Not only does it thrill, it makes you think about your own life,
not just after you come out of the theatre… but for a long time
following," says Jason Burman, a studio executive. "I've been in
the film industry longer than my grandmother has had bad teeth,
and that's a long time, but even I was stunned to realized after
seeing Machiavelli Hangman that it was possible to grab a whole
audience and manipulate them in so brilliantly in just two
hours," he adds with a big grin.
Machiavelli Hangman is gaining a mass following within the film
industry and movie-going audience. Many are already collecting
posters and autographs from cast and crew and are awaiting a set
theatrical release date.
"It's one of those films that you want to watch over and over
again; because there is so much that you miss the first time
around. My friend told me that there was a dead cat in one of the
scenes that it repeated three times in the course of the film,
but I missed it all three times!" says Pete Pernelli, one of the
audience members at the film festival.
Machiavelli Hangman had that story and it worked miracles with
it. Although the writer-director
Shervin Youssefian
could not be reached for further comments, Julia Strumfeld had
this to say about the project. "We're completely blessed by the
amount of intention we're getting. It just comes to show you
that nothing can stop a great script."
While we are waiting for hopefully an early December release,
fans of Machiavelli Hangman
have already started to spread the word. The film is gaining
so much attention as the film to beat in 2006, that it may be
the first ever digitally shot motion picture to receive an
academy award nomination.
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Jay-Jay Campbell is a movie reviewer.
His current review is of the upcoming
movie, "Machiavelli Hangman".
http://www.hangmanmovie.com