{"id":28477,"date":"2013-10-23T09:43:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T16:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=28477"},"modified":"2013-10-24T07:10:54","modified_gmt":"2013-10-24T14:10:54","slug":"dinner-john-buchanan-2013-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=28477","title":{"rendered":"Dinner (John Buchanan, 2013): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed on-line on Vimeo.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 Since the recent discovery of five mutilated bodies, the residents of Cocoa Beach, Florida are cautiously on alert for Brevard County’s first serial killer – except for Jeff, who’s a self-proclaimed “gentleman.”<\/p>\n

Jeff (Dennis Marsico)\u00a0has a nice tan, a strong jaw and just the right amount of stubble.\u00a0 Believing he’s as smooth as George Clooney,\u00a0he uses his shades to visually cruise the babes along the boardwalk, while enjoying a cool one on the pier.<\/p>\n

His\u00a0teethy grin gets rejected, as one cutie\u00a0flips him the bird, so he ogles another as she wriggles into her shorts.\u00a0 While discreetly removing his wedding ring, Jeff approaches the blond hottie under the guise of\u00a0searching for an eatery\u00a0– while standing beneath a sign marked SNACKS.<\/p>\n

Politeness gets the better of Christina (Meredith Branham), who doesn’t trust Jeff’s invitation of “just dinner.”\u00a0 After inquiring about his marital status, Jeff carelessly swears an oath to her\u00a0“may God strike me dead, if I’m not being honest.”\u00a0 She reluctantly agrees, but insists on driving and\u00a0reminds Jeff to “buckle up,” just as he reaches over and\u00a0carefully readjusts her\u00a0spaghetti strap.<\/p>\n

Later,\u00a0another apparent victim of the serial killer\u00a0is found\u00a0floating in the Indian River.<\/p>\n

Dinner<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock, and is filmed in the grand tradition of his\u00a0dark humor, and subtle nuances.\u00a0 The film contains a nicely polished suspense in a\u00a0neatly woven script, with tight editing, and a scintillating soundtrack, all within 7 minutes – not an easy feat, and quite impressive – a lesson for all film production students.<\/p>\n

John Buchanan is a writer, who has sold his work, and\u00a0been in the business for many years.\u00a0 As writer, director, and producer, he graciously agreed to\u00a0the following\u00a0Q & A:<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 You pay homage to both Roald Dahl and Hitchcock in your film, briefly explain why.<\/p>\n

J. B.<\/strong>\u00a0 When Hitchcock was interviewed by Johnny Carson he mentioned The Visitor, <\/em>by Roald Dahl, as the creepiest story he’d ever read.\u00a0 They were both masters of suspense with wonderfully humorous voices,\u00a0with stories of big unforeseen twists.<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 I like the title Dinner,<\/em> Hitch used singular word titles many times, what are your favorite Hitchcock films?<\/p>\n

J. B.<\/strong>\u00a0 Vertigo<\/em>, Notorious<\/em>, and Psycho<\/em>.<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 Can you share a little about the Hitchcockian (or rather Herrmannesque), non-diegetic music?<\/p>\n

J. B.<\/strong>\u00a0 The only two things I could guarantee myself and the viewer were a Hitchcockesque blond and music.\u00a0 Hitch often used whimsical music to set up unnerving scenes, rather than dramatic music for danger.\u00a0 After many hours of searching, I found the wonderful royalty-free music, from composer Kostas Varotsis.<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 Describe the development, pre\/and post-production, and your budget.<\/p>\n

J. B.<\/strong>\u00a0 I believe in the saying “you only get one chance to make a good first impression,” so rather than\u00a0use a DSLR, \u00a0I decided to invest the money and hire a professional cast and crew.\u00a0 My wonderful DP, Bill Schweikert, is a Hitchcock aficionado whom I discovered on Craigslist.\u00a0 He referred me to my editor Joe Walker.\u00a0 The film was shot in one day, with a\u00a0seven person crew, in my hometown of Cocoa Beach, and completed for $8,000.<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 Dinner<\/em> will premiere at the London City Film Festival, on October 26th, how exciting is that?\u00a0 And what are your plans following the film fest?<\/p>\n

J. B.<\/strong>\u00a0 I’m thrilled to get into a respected international festival right away.\u00a0 I have two goals for the film, one is to build an audience, and get exposure within the industry.\u00a0 I’m aiming for film festivals, reviews, and press coverage.\u00a0 I’ve submitted my film to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which is high on my wish list.\u00a0 I’d also like to develop\u00a0my film into a low budget, high quality indie, that reflects my own cool, modern\u00a0take of the Death Wish<\/em> franchise.<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 Where can the readers of this review screen Dinner<\/em>?<\/p>\n

J. B.\u00a0<\/strong> There is a link to Vimeo from the film’s website\u00a0 www.dinnerthemovie.com<\/a>\u00a0 – (I’ve linked this review directly to Vimeo – k.a.<\/em>).<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 What advice can you offer up-and-coming writers and filmmakers?<\/p>\n

J. B.\u00a0<\/strong> Technology is democratizing the filmmaking process, just as it did books and music.\u00a0 Anyone with ambition and a good idea can go make a film, and get it seen.\u00a0 Don’t think in terms of making a lot of money now.\u00a0 If you aspire to greatness rather than commercial success, I think everything else you want will come from that.<\/p>\n

K. A.\u00a0 Finally, I loathe being pigeon-holed with this question, but I’m going to ask you, what are your five favorite films of all time?<\/p>\n

J. B.<\/strong>\u00a0 My favorite of all time is the little-known 1966 masterpiece King of Hearts, <\/em>by Phillipe de Broca, with Alan Bates.\u00a0 Another favorite that’s hard to come by is The Devils<\/em> by Ken Russell – the most profoundly disturbing film I’ve ever seen.\u00a0 My favorite directors are Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and David Lean, so my other three are Vertigo<\/em>, Sunset Blvd.<\/em>, and Doctor Zhivago<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.\u00a0 Viewed on-line on Vimeo. \u00a0 Since the recent discovery of five mutilated bodies, the residents of Cocoa Beach, Florida are cautiously on alert for Brevard County’s first serial killer – except for Jeff, who’s a self-proclaimed “gentleman.” Jeff (Dennis Marsico)\u00a0has a nice tan, a strong jaw and just the right amount […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,73,81,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-online-films","category-short-films","category-tributes-and-qas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}