Chalk

Shooting pool is not the same after this movie. Don delivers an intense gritty performance in this seedy, grit-covered drama. Goes to the core of raw... Nilsson has created a dark and very humanistic film with a ton of quality. The cinematography around the pool games is tremendous! I loved this movie.

Kelvin Han Yee is the hero and Don Bajema the anti-hero in this complex story of a contentious pool game on which everything rides. Paul Newman's 1963 film The Hustler serves as an interesting contrast to this shadowy neon-lit series of vignettes exposing the lives of a group of Bay Area players living close to the street. The relentless high pressure of the big upcoming game alternates with the sadness felt by the people surrounding these two players.

Amateur actors from the Tenderloin Action Group make up the supporting cast and create the unscripted feel of this EthanSingh - Rand Crook production. The downbeat mood and long length means it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for fans of cinema verité it has the strong spark of real life played out in real time. Some of the seedy locales are aptly raw and a short night-time visit to the beach is a strangely pleasing interlude that serves to break the dramatic tension.

Don Bajema is very effective as the obsessively anal-retentive champion with a title to lose.