Little Black Dress

This short film, directed by Talia Lugacy, presents an appropriately short, simple and intensely dialogical story centered on Rosario Dawon's Haile - the main character. The theme of this film is the insecurities involved in trying to make a professional connection with somebody you respect but do not know. Rosario is planning for a big career opportunity and has a little black dress she is going to use, presumably to attract attention. But she has major misgivings and fears humiliation as she approaches the moment of truth. Then she meets Donna Mitchell in the Ladies' room, and in just a few moments, her whole point of view changes dramatically.

The cinematography and overall plot movement are the highlight of this film. But despite the nice photographic technique and the good pace, the film is badly edited. While the acting is actually fairly good - on all sides - the editing ruins some of the crucial dialog scenes, and actually makes the acting look bad by creating pacing problems and awkward moments where they do not belong. Some of these scenes probably should have been re-shot. Given the quality of the material and the sensitive treatment of the theme in the hyperbolic script, it is too bad that shorts are so rarely remade.

Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Rent) stars in this somewhat simplistic you-go-girl tale where insecurity undermines confidence, and then is given a second chance for self-evaluation through the intervention of an older woman.

Shot with high values throughout, and topnotch original soundtrack music by Genji Seraisi and Dennis Martin. Extended shots during monologues and dialogues asked a lot of the actresses in terms of "business"... which Dawson wasn't quite up for, but certainly a more seasoned actor like co-star Donna Mitchell was flawless. Slightly over-mannered to make up for a thin storyline, but then again, this is a one-trick pony and it does what it does with panache.

Directed by Talia Lugacy (Moxie Pictures) and funded apparently with significant help from Glamour Magazine, this little film is a benefit for FilmAid International and has a dazzling array of credits at the end. It's a role model thing, and a nice little morality tale for a classroom of teenage girls (whether or not they look like Rosario Dawson)... inasmuch as this film makes clear that even "gorgeous" women fall apart with worry about their own looks.