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 isually
impressive but narratively jumbled and ultimately pointless, Alex Ferrari's
short film "Broken" is quite a feat considering it's purported $8,000
production budget. The first thing that strikes you about the short is how
sophisticated and impressive its opening credits are. The movie proper retains
much of the visual feel of the credits, going for grim but orderly, with brief
spurts of CGI to break the monotony of the seemingly endless monologue by the
lead villain, a guy who wears a red vest, and will now and forever be known as
Red Vest Guy.
"Broken" opens with a young woman name
Bonnie (Samantha Jane Polay) waking up from a violent dream, only to be
abducted from her house by Red Vest Guy and taken to what looks like the
basement of an abandoned building. There, Bonnie is introduced to Red
Vest Guy's ability to talk endlessly without ever progressing the film's
plot forward, while we see men who, one assumes, are
"badasses" standing about. Later, a guy in commando gear shows
up, kills all the badasses in less than a minute (I guess they weren't
such badasses after all), but proves to be just lacking in coming clean
with the plot.
If it isn't obvious by now, I have absolutely no
idea what "Broken" is about. I had no clue as the film played,
and no clue now, as I write this review. What does that mean? Perhaps
writers Alex Ferrari and Jorge Rodriguez have failed to get whatever
ideas they were going for through to the audience. Perhaps not. If the
entire point of the short was to confuse and confound, then they've
certainly succeeded with flying colors. Although I suspect the answer
might be simpler than that: "Broken", as a film, was never
meant to be coherent, but was instead a demo reel for the filmmakers.
And as a demo reel, "Broken" certainly
impresses, if just from a visual standpoint. Ferrari's direction is
actually quite good, especially considering he's forced to paint the
same scene for 15 whole minutes while Red Vest Guy indulges in
incessantly tedious monologue about various topics (think Quentin
Tarantino, only less interesting, and extremely pointless). Further
convincing me that "Broken" is more demo reel than movie is
the presence of superfluous CGI spread throughout the film. It's only
during the movie's one gun battle that the CGI ever justifies itself.
"Broken"
has the look down, but alas, that's about it. Cinematographer Angel
Barroeta does spectacularly with the resources at hand, and it would be
interesting to see what he can do with a decent budget on a feature
film. Ferrari seems to have talent as well, although I can't be sure how
much, as he doesn't really do a whole lot with the film's two or three
scenes. Although the gun battle is exciting, and the choreography is
quite good, it's much too short, and Red Vest Guy and company proves to
be terribly easy prey, especially considering their introduction.
Part David Fincher, part "The
Matrix", and unfortunately too much Quentin Tarantino,
"Broken" is nonsensical if you approach it as a standalone
movie; as a demo reel for the visual effects guys and the
cinematographer, it's impressive. If "Broken" is meant to be
the precursor to a feature film version, I hope Rodriguez and Ferrari
have more to work with, script-wise, than what's here.
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