Save Yourself

Save Yourself is another intelligent, well-acted charmer from writer/director/star Allen C. Gardner. Sit back, relax and enjoy the insights. Especially since it's on Amazon Prime - no excuse not to check it out.

Films like this, where the conversation is very real and seems mostly ad-libbed, often don't rate very well, but I find them to be far more enjoyable than many of the big Hollywood flicks. As I watched this, I could easily put myself in the place of either of the main characters. Kept me entertained through the entire film, as I think it would anyone who's ever been in a relationship.

This film is not a traditional romance, but it definitely fills a special niche within the genre. If you enjoy witty banter and simple yet effective character development within a realistic plot, you'll enjoy this film.

I'd like to see what Allen Gardner can do with a bigger budget.

This is a deceptively simple film: basically just a long conversation. But the characters are well fleshed-out and the actors manage somehow to deliver their lines as if they're not lines. The scenarios are almost painfully realistic, utterly without romantic silver-lining storytelling; if you've got at least two decades under your belt, you'll have lived many of them yourself.

The direction is just razor-sharp, entirely free of big dramatic flourishes. As the interlocutors banter and fence, the depth of the subjects they're broaching is telegraphed in the briefest breaking of eye contact, the smallest alteration of vocal tone. By the end of the film you know these people intimately, as they've come to know each other.

It's worth watching just to marvel at its documentary feel, but you'll come away with some powerful insights into your own past as well. An amazing feat of "little" filmmaking.

I like these kinds of one big conversation movies. If you don't then consider yourself warned. The acting doesn't feel like acting at all. They seem so real. The writing is excellent. I highly recommend this film it's so unique and will seek out the directors other film.