Black Days (2005)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Michael Urnikis

Writer:

Michael Urnikis (writer)

Release Date:

2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Some days are worse than others

Plot:

A desperate prostitute seduces Trent, a recently released ex-con, to help her escape her pimp. Only things go horribly wrong when Trent tries to buy her from her pimp and things get violent.

Plot Keywords:

Sade | Trauma | Turmoil | Neo Noir | Extremist

Cast

Stephen Cinabro	...	Trent
Maggie McLaughlin	...	Melanie
Otis Fine	...	Pope
Mark Sutton	...	Eddie
Ritchie Franco	...	Marco
Ellen Fox	...	Sophie
Nicole Walker	...	Angie
Joe Bill	...	Jagger
Julia Neary	...	Monica
Frank Gangarossa	...	Deacon
Lisa Lewis	...	Sandra
Tim O'Malley	...	Mr. Holbert
Nick Doetsch	...	Lewis
Mark Belden	...	Frederick
Dessa Kirk	...	Rhonda

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Premiere Entertainment Productions

Trivia:

Despite the incredibly low budget, every cast and crew member was paid for their time and hard work.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: At the end of the film you can see the make-up of the welt on Trent's forehead starting to separate from his skin. The make-up artist had a prior commitment and was unable to stick around to keep the effect looking good. Half way through filming the welt fell off causing some of the close-ups to look bad. To cover up the problem editing and a great deal of color correction was done to make it less noticeable.

Quotes:

Frederick: I'm talkin' bout what if this happened in real life!
Trujano: In real life Popeye would win!
Frederick: I'm gonna break this thing and shove it down your throat!

Movie Connections:

References The Godfather (1972)

Soundtrack:

With Beauty All Around Me

Noir has Returned!

All in all, this movie exceeded my expectations. Urnkis is an amazing up and coming director who has successfully made a wonderful film on a shoe string budget. This film looked excellent in the trailer and was even better at full length. At times the movie seemed to drag a little, but these were important moments where we were learning about the main characters. The action in this film is outstanding. It's really violent and chaotic but doesn't last very long. The sledgehammer fight was especially memorable. I thought the main character Trent performed by Stephen Cinabro was especially compelling. The grittiness of the film is wonderful. I especially loved the beautiful array of colors which definitely separates it from the low budget look. I even loved the posters. This is a film I would love to see again just because of the great ending and the character Pope who really steals the movie.

Pros: Great look, interesting characters, wonderful score, and amazing ending.

Cons: Drags at times, some acting not very good.

Still I highly recommend this film. It's really great and if you look at it from the view point of how little money was put into it, you'll be amazed.