Four Episodes from 1984

I really love short films and art house films. When I viewed Four Episodes from 1984, I really enjoyed this film. Every detail of this film was carefully considered. Lighting, sound, writing, and acting were very good. The young cast performed very well and their acting was believable.

The director, Marshall Peterson, took great care of this Orwellian masterpiece. Rarely does a short film obtain such qualities. I am not a film critic. I am a consumer of films. I found myself engaged in the plot (since I knew the plot... this was amazing). A good find. Thanks Mr. Peterson for a fine effort and enjoyable experience.

I saw the movie three times, once alone, and twice with other people there. I thought it was really well put together, but I had no real reference for it's artfulness with regard to the novel, which I hadn't read. I read the book. Now I'm really impressed with the sections of the novel that are fleshed out in the film. Now I can't think about the other sections of the book without seeing these faces on the characters. I think the costuming was excellent. I think the lighting is really well done. The torture scene was marvelously put together, and the camera work there is really excellent. Sophisticated lighting subtleties all over the place. I don't know how they got him to see five fingers, but they did because I saw them too! I think the acting from the major characters was very nuanced and appropriate to the material. Winston's torture scene was shattering for me on the first viewing. An all-around bravo for Director, Cast and Crew.

Kudos to all of the people involved in making this film. Given the limited budgets and technical resources available to student filmmakers in the early 1980s, it's truly impressive to see the talents of these young filmmakers on display. Each scene is well performed, well directed, well photographed and clearly well thought out. Obviously, its intent is not to tell the entire story, but to give the viewer a sense of the tale and how the "finished" feature film would look and feel. It makes me wish they'd had the resources to make that feature a reality.

Director of Photography Frank Prinzi (now Frank Prinzi, ASC – Emmy-winning cinematographer and director of both films and television) did a superb job lighting and photographing the entire film, capturing the mood of each scene perfectly. Other student crew members also moved on to bigger things as well – notably Paul Ziller (key grip/dolly grip), who went on to direct more than a dozen features, Li-Shin Yu (assistant director) became a award-winning documentary film editor and Maryann Brandon (production assistant) was film editor on J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek", "Super 8", "Star Trek Into Darkness" and the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII".

The most important thing I took away from watching Four Episodes from 1984 is how well Peterson captures the vision of a world without personal freedom. It is truly frightening to realize how close we are to living in this Orwellian world where our every movement is recorded and even our thoughts aren't our own - all justified as a necessary sacrifice in wartime. Sound familiar? Of special note are the strong performances by John Nowak and Jayne Bentzen, who portrayed Winston Smith and his lover/co-conspirator Julia. Even knowing the ending, I found myself hoping they would somehow escape arrest and torture. Even more impressive was Alan Leach, coolly efficient and despicable as O'Brien, the Inner Party mentor/torturer assigned to "cure" Winston of his "mental derangement".

I've heard that Marshall Peterson, after a career producing commercials and corporate projects, is returning to independent filmmaking with The Heisenberg Effect, a feature being filmed later this year. I look forward to seeing it.

Very very well done !

First rate acting. Absolutely topnotch cinematography. These four scenes plainly, and immediately, capture the spirit of the book- as If George Orwell himself had directed it. It is as if you, yourself, were there.

It leaves the viewer wishing that the entire book could have been filmed !

Marshall Peterson clearly emulates the masters, but the piece is NOT derivative. The influence of Kubrick and Hitchcock, in particular though, seems apparent. Nevertheless, the feeling comes across that Marshall Peterson comes from a place of deep respect, even a certain reverence, for these men and the mood the were able to create. This is not a bad thing. I am certain that almost any great artist- of any kind- could point to those who went before them whose examples were inspirational- even pivotal.

All in all, I would love to see more from this skilled, and very capable, director. Again, WELL done !!