Contender is a short film noir directed by Jason Reim in 2017, though it appears to be more of a demo for the fight scene of a longer film than a film in itself.
There is not much in the way of a story, in fact, but it’s a lovely atmospheric piece, with a strong noir mood, and I love the use of the colour that partly belies the noir derivation and still it is so much like it.
I’ll admit that I would have liked some more personality to the characters, with maybe some more insight into them. The situation and the dialogue are very cliched, which is why I think it is more of a study for the fighting than anything else.
It’s a fun little piece.
4 Comments
Yamini MacLean
Hari OM
A little too ‘try-hard’ and confused as to what era it was in – that and no obvious story. As you say, it plays more like a scene from a larger item. Not something I would watch. YAM xx
jazzfeathers
It definitely doesn’t stand on its own.
J
thanks for the review,
yes… you are all very correct, this isn’t really a short film, its just one scene I pulled out of larger script, so its missing a lot of basic story elements to be a complete “short film”… I agree, it’s not for everyone’s specific noir interests.
it was an attempt for me and my production team to test out stunt choreography, noir lighting style and dialogue.
and I agree, my production values for the specific time period isn’t accurate… my goal was to see what worked, and what didn’t… and then do better in the future when time and budget are available.
so therefore I shouldn’t really have this video on YouTube since its just a demo scene, but thanks for taking the time to watch it, and creating a very cool poster for it.
– Jason
jazzfeathers
HI Jason, thans so much for stopping by.
I wouldn’t know wht to suggest about the video being on YouTube. On the one hand, it’s true that it’s a trial (we coudl say), but on the other, it si a way to make you rwork known.
Maybe tell some of these things in the caption?
Thanks again for stopping by and commenting. Greatly appreciate it 🙂