Payback

This story of a not-so wise guy persevering through his gritty lot in life is engagingly presented, with effective acting all around, especially on the part of the lead, who comes across as vulnerable and conflicted while the school of hard knocks develops his character into a force to be reckoned with in gangster land. The Russian mob atmosphere was captured well even while including romance and family relationships without trivializing those elements. The film grips and holds you throughout even in the absence of any budgetary fluff. It maintains the feel of realism, and doesn't shy away from a sappily ever after ending.

This is newb/amateur writer, director and producer Joseph Mensch's first full length feature film, with only one prior short film to his credit. Sure, it was flawed, but for an amateur filmmaker, he did better than some seasoned filmmakers productions I've seen lately.

For a low budget B film, the score was surprisingly on point, and was not your typical constant, loud, overbearing and unfitting score. His directing was actually decent, but there were some scene fluidity issues. It's as if many parts where cut short with information the viewer needed. I'm not sure if the issues were bad editing, or screenplay related, or both. The story concept was great, but there were many plot, continuity and technical issues in his screenplay. Had Mensch consulted a seasoned screenwriter to edit his writing prior to production, his film wouldn't have had that missing scene fluidity and continuity issues. The pacing was on point for the film's 91 min runtime. Casting was decent, although many performances here and there felt flat, and I'm sure it was due to Mensch's lack of experience in directing his cast properly. Cinematography was excellent, especially with the use of 90's color filters and sets. It seems much detail went into staging that era, and seemed convincing I was watching a film made in the early 90's.

Overall, it was a great first effort for a newb filmmaker. With its flaws, I saw it to the end, and I enjoyed it. It's a well deserved 6/10 from me, and certainly not worthy of anything less than a 5/10, because new filmmakers have to start somewhere, right?

I've said this so many times for all these Covid-era junk releases, you can't be the director, writer, and producer for a film unless you're in the Top 5 and Joseph Mensch doesn't do any of those roles well which makes for a wasted effort. The bones of the plot are ok, but the execution, the screenplay is juvenile and not thought out; in fact, it just gets more stupid and unlikely as it moves along. And it has the most unlikely ending ever, poorest payoff in the past five films you've seen. The only thing worth watching truly were performances by support cast you may recognize: Lev Gorn who played Zotov in "The Americans" and Toby Moore who plays Bryan in "Billions". And our protag/star, Matt Levett, never seen him before. And he plays a character that should've died in so many scenes. Just add this to the Covid-era pile of rubbish out back.

The Godfather of the Russian mob scene on Brighton beach. Entertaining and suspenseful. Good watch.

Not a bad thriller, and made well, small budget but still - entertaining.