Across the Hall

I saw this short at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and was very impressed by this psychological drama from first-time director Alex Merkin who wrote the story and edited the 25 minute film as well. Kris Johnson, Jesse Mittlestadt and Julien Schwab contributed to the screenplay. Andrew Carranza is the cinematographer who uses great lighting and camera angles to bring the tension of the story to life. Adrian Grenier from the HBO series Entourage stars as Julian who is taking a leisurely bath when he gets a call from his best friend Terry played by James Oliver who has discovered his girlfriend is cheating on him and he has followed her to a hotel she and her lover have checked into. Terry has been drinking and has a gun with him. Oliver turns in a great performance in this role as the jealous, menacing boyfriend and I hope to see him in feature film roles. Only two other on-screen roles in this small cast and they are Natalie Smyka as the cheating fiancée June and Jamie Benge as a porter in the hotel. This film gets your imagination going and throws a lot of surprises at you. I would give this an 8.5 out of 10.

Wow, I saw this movie at the Ft. Lauderdale Intl. Film festival tonight and was blown away with the stylish directing of this short film. The lighting was beautiful, the camera work stunning, and the music brought the entire production to life. I kept thinking what a great full-length feature this story would make in the hands of this very capable director. Finding out this was a first-time venture for this director was a big surprise considering the great care he used in bringing this story to life. If you get the chance, make sure you invest the 25 or so minutes to see this film. The actors were perfectly cast, and the story truly believable. For a movie of this length, the surprises kept coming, with most of them being very subtle. It's a great thriller with tons of style!

Probably one of the most entertaining short films of the 21st century. A young couple enjoys some quality time at an old-fashioned hotel. Things seem to be going smoothly until they learn who is staying across the hall. The camera angles, the dialogue, the story premise, the acting, the cinematography, the suspense, and the overall reality of this film is superb. Compared to some of the surprisingly successful full-length movies that have been made the past few years, this 25 minute film deserves more mainstream recognition from it's impressive screen presence. If marginally-talented filmmakers can somehow squeeze their way into the business, then the parties responsible for creating this film will undoubtedly be involved with full-length feature films in the future. I would love to see the Production staff and Director collaborate on another project.

I caught this film at the 2006 Mill Valley Film Festival. I have to say it's one of the best I've seen on the festival circuit. A great contained thriller, it feels perfectly rounded. It's hard to recall a short made recently that is so strong in ALL the categories that matter - great direction, writing, cinematography, lighting, music and performances from the 3 leads (Adrian Grenier, James Oliver and Natalie Smyka). It has all the charms and surprises of classic Hitchcock films while feeling entirely modern. You feel like you've watched a fully realized story in under a half hour. I'm hoping this is expanded into a feature because I came out of the screening completely craving more. I strongly suggest checking this film out the next time it's playing at a festival in your area.