Cash Only

"Well I'm Elvis, the king of lowlife tenants."

It might not be so horrible and disgusting as "A Serbian Film" (I refuse to watch that one because of the immoralities appearing in it), but because of the finale it might deserve the title "An Albanian Film". Not that this part was so groundbreaking horrible, but it was intense anyway. This indie crime shows the self-destructive process of an accumulating debt and the eternal struggle to repay it. That's something Elvis Martini is facing in everyday life. His first name is somewhat unfortunate in this case, because I'm sure his legendary namesake didn't have that problem. You can't say "Cash Only" is very original, but the movie is painfully realistic and pure.

Elvis Martini (Nickola Shreli) isn't exactly a choirboy either. In the past he was found guilty of insurance fraud after setting his house on fire, with a prison sentence as a result (not to mention an even bigger personal loss). Gambling probably raised the debt as well. The basement area of the building where he rents apartments, is used by some weird guy who's growing lots of marijuana there. And in addition, he also replaces additional rental payments by sleeping with the girlfriend of his best friend. But despite these shortcomings, I felt sorry for this landlord who's fighting against loosing everything. In a desperate way he tries to survive and raise his daughter in a decent manner. The way he's deceived by his tenants, shows that he's not as ruthless. Only kicking out a call-girl and confiscating her possessions, proved to be a gross mistake.

"Cash only" is rough and gray. A sketch of an American slum with an Albanian population seeking to pursue the American dream. Afterwards they come to the conclusion that it's just a daily struggle where the law of the strongest rules. Albanians aren't the most peaceful citizens but value the concepts of honor and keeping a promise. Something Elvis also experiences. However it's sometimes the opposite. Nobody really respects him. It's as if everyone tries to take advantage of other people's desperate situation. That this socially critical picture was replaced subsequently by a violent kidnapping scenario, surprised me somewhat. A grim and excessive ending.

Nickola Shreli (who also co-wrote this film) was extremely convincing. Both as the pitiful landlord, as the energetic and determined father. All in all a laudable role. The other supporting roles are functional but not particularly impressive. Malik Bader played a guest role as the crazy Kush who dwelt in higher spheres in the basement of Elvis. Obviously, this was the most amusing part. Stivi Paskoski took care of the most psychotic role. Despite the cliché elements from other crime films, the shocking (but not too gory) denouement left a reasonable impression.

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Whoever did the camera work for this movie ruined what could possibly be a good movie with their pathetic skills, and should never ever get another job holding a camera.

Couldn't watch more than two scenes without being turned off by the shaky camera work and the weird zoom in angles.

I have not seen any movies with Nickola Shreli before. He is certainly an overlooked actor. American cinema is in dire need of fresh faces who are not overexposed by media and possess great acting skills. I would suggest any actor to stay away from the limelight of mass media to maintain an appeal and mystery. Now back to the movie. It held my interest as an intelligent movie with a good story almost to the end. There were clearly some flaws in the story when I tough and quick-witted guy would do stupid things such as leave his daughter alone after he got a warning call. The rescue scenes are not believable and leave unanswered questions. How did the dim-witted "rescue" guys figure out the location so fast? The level of violence in the ending scenes was not warranted and added little to the story. As a female, I had to skip those scenes as they are damaging to any psyche. If this movie was intended to be a drama, not a horror film, then they should have stick to the drama genre. But overall this movie is watchable and the story is original.

Story is Ok. Acting is good. But they had to spoil it all with the filming. Like the guys behind the camera is just out of film school and is just carried over beyond recognition by close range hand held camera work. "Look! I am doing an action movie, it got to be shaking and moving in all direction and I gonna shove my lens right into every thing". Ok. So it works for a while and then becomes annoying, then just plain sickening. Too bad.

This is an enjoyable film that is full of interesting, gritty characters that are well cast and acted.

The plot is somewhat familiar, lowlife dad puts daughter's safety in jeopardy, but has some added ingredients, mainly the Detroit setting, that elevates the film and holds the suspense.

There are some pretty real scenes of violent acts which compliments the gritty atmosphere.

Overall this is a hidden gem of a film. I particularly liked the lead actor and will look out for other movies featuring him. His deadpan delivery reflected the lead character's lack of responsibility for his actions until the stakes were raised to the point of no return and he had no choice but to face up to the situation he created for himself.