Retake
- Director: Nick Corporon
- Writer: Gareth Dutton; Nick Corporon; Collin Brazie; Justin Bailey
- Producer: Sean Mandell; Nick Corporon; Collin Brazie
CGiii Comment
If you can get onboard [immediately] with the premise...all is well and dandy.
It is a little weird...recreating [in detail] a road-trip with a proxy-dead-boyfriend...who happens to be a pay-by-the-day [buff] street hustler! Perhaps, taking 'the weird' to an extreme could have propelled this film into another dimension!
'The weird' becomes a little too predictable and safe...considering, grief is neither predictable nor safe...it can be devastating. This film screamed for devastation! Mayhem! Disturbia!
To the writers' credit, it does give rise to many questions...who is the victim, the dead or the living? Is it love? Is it infatuation? Or, is just good old-fashioned guilt?
Despite the obvious budget restraints [buy a tripod!]...this is a valiant little film...however, it runs on all-fours with one flat tyre. The writing flounders in places.
It needed a bolder approach, less light, more shade...a continual darkness (which was present in the opening scenes)...it needed to grab you by the balls and not let go...it lets go...too soon, too easily!
Still...very watchable due to two solid central performances - a decent debut feature from Mr Corporon...but, please, buy a tripod!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Retake pulls viewers into a world of love, loss, and intrigue from its opening scenes. Handsome businessman Jonathan (Tuc Watkins) has returned to San Francisco with a mission. He’s on the hunt for a brunette who is “rough around the edges,” temperamental, and scented with just the right cologne. Cruising the streets of the city, he finds what he’s looking for in a flirtatious young hustler played by Devon Graye, and a bold proposition is made: If this young man agrees to accompany Jonathan on a road trip to the Grand Canyon, he’ll get double his nightly rate, plus $1,000. But, there’s a catch: He has to role-play as someone named “Brandon” for the full ride. Eager to leave his life on the streets, he says yes, and an amorous game of manipulation and obsession commences. So begins the ambitious, risk-taking first feature by Nick Corporon, a film of romance and brooding suspense, with shades of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. The mystery of the real Brandon haunts the film for its duration. As the role-playing intensifies, the what and the who become captivatingly confused, as lines between fantasy and reality, desire and performance, blur.
Cast & Characters
Devon Graye as Evan / Brandon / Adam;
Derek Phillips as James;
Tuc Watkins as Jonathon;
Malcolm Bowen as Young Man;
Rod Harrel as The Man;
Andrew Asper;
Kit Williamson as Scotty;
Sydelle Noel as Iris;
Jody Jaress as Debbie;
Clint Clark;
Miller Tai