The Waiter

Several months ago an article caught my eye in the Chronicle, it was a showcase of Charles Durning and being a huge fan of Attica and Dog Day I read on. From this article an interest in a locally produced independent film spawned and I have followed that film for quite some time. I am a student of cinema and often I take great interest in the beginning works of directors. I was able to view the film and converse with the director and found it quite refreshing for the budget. He asked that I not repeat the budget, so I will honor that request. However, I will say that the accomplishment of producing this film is in relevant terms one of brilliance. Yes, the film has some faults, but I would have to give many of them a pass due to the limited funds. To those true cinephiles and beginning film directors I would highly recommend you view this film.

THE WAITER was a SOLID film with a great and recognizable cast that delivered amazing performances. Totally an underdog that surprised me. I was also impressed with this new writer/director JASON KONOPISOS, I've never heard of this dude but he sure as hell did an excellent job with making the film. Especially after I read about all of the obstacles they faced during the production of the film, I'm amazed with the result. I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of this guy's work. Not only does this movie serves it's pure purpose with entertainment but it's interesting as well cause it makes you think. Which this kind of genre of film sometimes lacks, but not THE WAITER.

Props for doing what you love to the writer, director and lead but to be perfectly honest, this effort totally stinks. Bad acting. Bad editing. Bad writing and a bad movie. I can't believe I'm still watching it after 45 minutes. There is no story and the lead is flat. Very flat. Even the camera work stinks. I wish I could find one redeeming quality but I can't. Waste of $1,000,000. Sigh. At least the rental was only .50 cents. Ok, here's one good thing to learn from this. How not to make a movie.

I met the director via a good friend of mine in Austin. We were able to see one of the last cuts of the film, the director said there was one more round of edits to be made. I typically don't take the time to put my two cents into the world, but we asked him to see the film and I promised I would give him an honest review of the film. Overall the film was very interesting, I am a big conspiracy theory buff. The film requires a great deal of attention and deliberation, but for those who aren't into that there is some flash and a TREMENDOUS amount of killing. The sound had some problems, but he said that that was being taken care of, it didn't strike me as anything that someone with experience couldn't fix. For the budget I thought the film was very impressive, the locations, the look, and especially the cast. I really was pretty blown away by the cast, really well constructed and solid actors. Didn't care for the lead female's acting, but she was eye candy 'enough' for the part. Probably the best part of the film is the story behind it, and the making of the film. I suppose this will get some sort of distribution and they will include the extras about how they made it, and if they do I would recommend that highly. The director talked to us for about 3 hours about it and it put the film in an entirely different light. Judging the film among it's peers that I have seen from the Austin indie world in this budget range, I would say it's a strong 9... or maybe a 10.

This film premiered at Palm Beach Film Festival, which I attended in Boca. I was attracted to this film as a fan of the work of Charles Durning. The film, however, was a far different film than I was use to and expected from him. The festival did a poor job of informing the attendees of what the film was about. The film was very violent and hard. Not at all my cup of tea, I was expecting a film paying homage to film noir from the way it was presented.

I can understand how this might please a much younger crowd, however I found it difficult to keep up with. I will say that the dialogue was clever, acting very strong, and the shot composition was really impressive.

Despite my mixed feelings about the 'raw' nature of the film I have to give it very high marks. The director spoke after the screening and explained the film and it honestly brought my feelings of it to a higher level. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to actually have to think about what I was seeing. It was a refreshing change of perspective, but it made me appreciate what I had dismissed before as mindless killings and vulgarity.

For the amount of money and experience that the director had the film looked very sharp and sent a powerful message.