All Creatures Here Below

Ann Jillian and David Dastmalchian star in this star-crossed lover drug/roadie flick about a working stiff who has a drug addicted girlfriend and a limited income.

He gets fired and bets his paycheck on a cock fight. He wins, but the fight is broken up by the police and the bookie/drug dealer runs away with the money. David catches up with him and stabs him in the leg. He takes the money and the dealer's car and runs away with his girlfriend to another state.

So, what is the big deal. We have seen this a hundred times already. Oh wait, they discover a baby in the back seat after a few hundred miles. This certainly complicates things. Now, there is a potential kidnapping charge, in addition to other charges.

The story gets authenticity in my book because of Dastmalchians early adulthood in the Midwest as a drug runner/dealer, who eventually cleaned up his bad habits and migrated to LA. That authenticity shows in the film.

However, there are few surprises here, other than the baby, and we are left with an empty feeling at the end of the movie. However, that is what the writer intended.

The acting in this little film was outstanding. Throughout the whole movie I could feel the emotions of the main characters. They did an outstanding job telling this sad tale. 6.9

This is much more a short story than a feature film.

For the first 80% of it, I kept wondering "is this it? Is this movie going anywhere beyond a dysfunctional bonnie and clyde story?

Then it becomes something. It achieves something I don't encounter too often in film, and it does it ever so gently -- it's a jerry springer film, without the bitter humor. It's sad, it's depressing, and surprisingly touching just when I was about to give up on it. It makes you glad that your life is not like theirs -- cursed from the beginning of their lives, to the end. And while they're still young.

I can't get overjoyed about the acting -- most of it is held tight to the emotional vest. And forget the dialogue -- while the story may be lyrical, the dialogue most definitely is not. But what it surrenders in poetic ways, it makes up for in simple, grim realism. This movie's realism makes it that much more unpleasant. But in a good way.

It is not a pleasant movie at all but a very good character study of two people on the fringe of homelessness in Los Angeles. As the movie begins he and she each lose their jobs, for different reasons through no fault of theirs. Trying to make a go of it anyway they soon end up on a road trip in someone else's car that takes them to Kansas City.

David Dastmalchian, who also wrote the script, is Gensan. His partner is Karen Gillan as Ruby, who appears to be a bit "slow" and also naive. They clearly care for each other, she depends on him greatly, but every day seems to be a massive speed bump in the road of life.

I have only seen Gillan on TV talk shows, with her smiling face and very red hair. Here she has short black hair, hardly any makeup, and doesn't really look like herself. But it is a very appropriate look and she plays her role superbly.

This is a movie without happy endings but it probably reflects well on how some people living on the fringes of society have difficulty dealing every day. It is a well-made movie of a difficult subject.

David Dastmalchian, crafted an enigmatic story about two adults dealing with brutal childhood traumas while living in poverty. At first, viewers who can the film's low production value maybe like ok where's the story? but the joint performance by David Dastmalchian and Karen Gillan, gives the film incredible value.

The film evokes off a strong human feeling to story's end plot twists. Dastmalchian 's acting carries the story through, as Gillan's performance as a disillusioned person. The film also functions as a road trip film; it follows their tragic story.