What is the key to a successful drama could also be the basis for films with smaller budgets.
Staying with a small actor pool, a particular locations and a short duration is an excellent way to reduce costs. But, like playwrights that go back to the first Greeks were aware it’s also a good method of highlighting the tension, create tension and establish character. Remove the additional shows and special effects. Keep it simple and thrilling.
Carlos V. Gutierrez’ Locked In demonstrates how.
A stripped-down , small crime-thriller, it tells the story of Mena Suvari an unmarried mother and manager’s assistant in some of the storage facilities in which you can keep things. Suvari is worried that some of the things stored in the lockers may not be legal. She’s witnessed her boss steal huge sums of money from renters, yet she has a son and her husband is in jail. She’s in desperate need of work.
A few hours later two men show up. They tell her boss that they were hiding diamonds in their possession however they’re not sure where they got them originally. They’re in dire need of them now. They draw their guns.
Start opening these lockers Ladies.
The reason this film is so effective is the fact that it is aware of its limitations. It was created to address these issues. With the exception of some brief scenes to provide the background We don’t even leave warehouse. Except for one cop with a curious streak and a handful of others, there are none of the characters are new. We’re within the same unidentified brightly lit void as the woman who’s scared.
With no distractions we’re being forced to concentrate on the moment of tension that is at hand.
Sometimes the focus of this writer just leads us to find holes in the story. For the purpose of keeping the story flowing Gutierrez often makes characters act in bizarre or unorthodox ways, or to allow inconsistent incidents to pile on top of each other. Certain early aspects (Suvari’s persona is that of a sufferer of claustrophobia) aren’t really able to grow into anything. Other details (a unintentional, discovered few flashing lights in traffic) are often arbitrary and can be placed in.
There are however some surprises here, and despite the fact that they seem as if they were fabricated, they are actually very effective.
The show has some surprising aspects also in the actors. The older viewers might be surprised to learn this Suvari who was the innocent Bambi-eyed child of “American Beauty” is now old enough to take on the character of a single mother. Also, Jeff Fahey, best remembered by many for his beautiful character in the horror films “Body Parts” and “The Lawnmower Man,” has become an actor who can make people believe he is a smug biker.
It was the 90s. Today, and time doesn’t stand still for anyone.
especially for women with a weapon in her face, with two criminals in desperate need of her to accelerate.
