Only 21 when this production is completed, director Howard Ford enjoys an auspicious beginning and although his second feature DISTANT SHADOW is far below it in overall quality, a result of a screenplay that increasingly becomes an enemy of good sense as it moves along, MAINLINE RUN is penned by Ford along with his brother Jon, the film's cinematographer, and a very interesting piece it is. The Aristotelian dramaturgic dicta of Unities of time, place, and action are substantially adhered to with events transpiring in essentially one day, and in one locale in East Sussex near Lewes Prison where the story begins, while the action allows for no digressions that would soften the strict form neo-classical Renaissance theoreticians developed when codifying the Greek philosopher's formulary. Taro (Hugo Speer), a hard-case, upon his release from Lewes promptly rejoins confederates and borrows a packaged supply of heroin from an O.C. boss named Fletcher for selling, with an agreement to immediately return Fletcher's share of proceeds; unfortunately, circumstances go completely awry with Taro and partner Sean (Andrew Joseph) being thereby forced upon a nightmarish series of efforts to accumulate enough cash to pay their "debt" to Fletcher. Paced well throughout by the director, the film also benefits from Jon Ford's inventive lighting, setups, and camera skills, while Speer garners acting laurels with a nicely layered turn as he essentially creates his role, and there is a progressively engaging musical mix for a work that, in spite of economic and distribution restrictions, alongside an emphasis that Howard Ford fixes upon the unsavoury, yet is splendidly crafted fare due to its consistent intensity and the maintenance of an authoritative point of view proffered by the Fords.
