Headhunter

I saw Headhunter at an LA film festival and found it really funny (most of the audience was cracking up), profound and as well made as a feature, unlike many short films.

Director/writer Roumelis plays with our ideas of sin and temptation like a ping-pong champion. Our sympathies bounce between Yves the Priest and the mysterious young man in the confessional (compellingly rendered by Joseph Griffin - watch for him).

While part of our brain is trying to figure out the story, the other part of is tracking a chocolate bar on screen like a laser beam. Never has an opportunity for a product placement been wasted like this! You have to see the film to appreciate how the director transforms desire for a chocolate bar or a cigarette into a grail of temptation.

The only comparable film I can think of in terms of mixing morality and humor so effervescently is actually also a short, Fellini's "The Temptation of Dr. Antonio" (Anita Ekberg) which is praise of the highest order. Find a way to see "Headhunter" or anything else this director has up his sleeve. Just take a chocolate bar in your pocket, you will need it.

This film could of been great. But the director doesn't seem to know what story he's suppose to tell. Who's story is it? Is it the Priest's or the Headhunter's. In a 20 minute piece, you have to have a main character. This film sort of just shoots whatever, like its a documentary. It doesn't have a visual theme at all and its a disappointment because the script is so solid. I think the writer directed this piece which sometimes is a huge mistake. The guy can write, no question, but can he direct? This piece doesn't seem so. I understand what he's trying to say, but we're left without any emotion or feeling at all. Like we invested our time in the film and we come away not really caring what happened. Its too bad too, because you can see if it was made with the right hands, this could of been a great short.