Crush (2005)

Director:

Deborah Aston

Writer:

Leigh Dovey (writer)

Genre:

Short

Plot:

Rich is abducted in the middle of the night by Tommy. He's taken to a deserted scrap yard and locked in the boot of a car destined to be crushed...

Cast

  (Credited cast)

David Farrington	...	Ol Duke
Michael Greco	...	Rich
Terry Stone	...	Tommy

Runtime:

UK:10 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (RCA Sound System)

Filming Locations:

Taroni Scrapyard, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK

A nice idea that is mostly well delivered apart from the odd duff touch and some questionable acting

Rich has a smart mouth and a real street attitude but when gangster Tommy locks him in a car boot in a scrap yard, his luck may be up. He doesn't believe that the car will really be crushed the next morning with him in it but as the hours roll on he begins to worry that the threat is not a bluff. Luckily, in the middle of the night, a drunken nightwatchman opens the boot and lets him out – as long as he stays for a drink.

In the opening moments of the film I was a bit distracted by the fact that I recognised the scrap yard in Birmingham that this was filmed in. I won't say the name of the yard but I knew of it because I had been warned off doing business there because I heard that it was a bit dodgy – not an allegation that is true I'm sure but it amused me to find it featured in a short film as a yard that disposes of bodies "no questions asked"! Anyway after this we had a few scenes setting up the scenario and getting Rich into the boot of the car; these set the tension but mostly just convinced me that the guy playing Tommy wasn't a very good actor. After this the tension carries it just about through to a reasonably good twist at the end – although I could really have done without the spinning cameras and manic laughter of the drunk guy, it was too obvious and it felt a bit like the sort of camera work a student would do.

The story is pretty good and, although nothing that clever, it does do enough to fill the running time. Aside from the one visual problem mentioned above the direction was generally pretty good and produced an effective atmosphere. The acting wasn't great and it did limit the film somewhat – the guy playing Rich was a bit too superficial and never actually got past this with his character at any point, talking and sounding like a bit of a cockney gangster cliché. Likewise the guy with the eye patch wasn't up to much.

Overall though this was an enjoyable if basic short film. The idea is simple enough but the good air of tension that it had covered the problems that include some pretty average acting.