Missive

Attending the premiere for Missive was an honour, and the night was excellent. In front of a packed out theatre audience, both Director and Writer enthusiastically introduced what would be a superb short film experience. The film was a well paced, edge of the seat thriller that captured the audiences attention.

I highly recommend that you watch it. Awaiting the release of the DVD to add to my growing short film collection.

And I am looking forward to seeing a future feature length production by this up and coming director; Adam Stolfo.

Well done to the production team.

"Missive" is the story of a sick old man who is payed a visit by a mysterious hit man. The hit man's course of duty is interrupted when the old man stops him in his tracks and delivers a final request. This in turn kicks the film into overdrive and is reminiscent of a big black hole that proceeds to swallow up all of the integral characters raising erstwhile issues of regret and how it inflicts emotional blackmail and guilt.

This is a short film that is unlike the majority of short film product being produced. Rather than something situational, "Missive" looks and feels like a feature film in a 15 minute running time. By that I mean, the story and lead character evolves from point A to B and the film has three acts which I have never seen in any other short film. The film establishes a major conflict that it resolves within its fast paced, short running time. Extremely universal for an Australian film.

The story is extremely original, the screenplay is elegantly written conveying an emotional tale which is wrapped in a plot driven narrative in a way which is quite unique. Subtle direction serves the story brilliantly along with superb production value and revealing performances (especially the lead Paul Reichstein in a standout role) all work together to form one of the best short films I have seen in a long time. The power and timing of the score compliments the material which surrounds the viewer in an emotionally hectic way. This disturbing yet vivid tale took out Honourable Mention for Best Screenplay at The Angry Film Festival which may be portending to further deserved successes on the festival circuit. Highly recommended!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I went to see Missive at its Australian premiere. I'm not all that familiar with the short film format, probably because there are so few public outlets for their exhibition. The handful of other short films that screened with Missive at the premiere usefully provided a context which highlighted the film's apparent uniqueness within the often-neglected format. A couple of the other films were based around a joke, building to the punch line within the short running time. Another presented an abstract reflection on life, which also seemed appropriate for the format. Missive, however, presented a film which actually felt like a feature. Consider the premise: A hit-man receives a request from a victim which leads to deep internal turmoil and a major moral dilemma. Pretty heavy stuff to cover in 15 minutes.

But Missive does it. The film gives the viewer a real sense of the emotional unrest within the troubled hit-man, in part due to the appealing performance from Paul Reichstein (who looks like a Hollywood leading man), and the surprisingly good score provided by Paul Houseman.

Having said all that, it is probable that the subject matter would benefit from a longer running time; there is little doubt that this would make a great feature. But this is Australia, and feature film-making is simply out of reach for the majority of this country's aspiring talent. So kudos to the creative team behind Missive for taking the chance to do something different within this seemingly limited format. Missive is an extremely original film, and hopefully it will open some promising doors for the filmmakers.