I recently had the opportunity to check out an advance screening of Keep Your Distance, director Stu Pollard's sophomore inde effort. In the opening moments of Distance, the viewer is given glimpses of a politician running for office, his face being paint-balled on a campaign poster, a popular radio talk-show host and his wife, a break-in involving computer sabotage, some steamy sex, a woman driving and living out of a suitcase, the talk-show host's wife leaving a high-end hotel (and looking incredibly sexy, strutting like she means business), a powerful man and his son at the racetrack, a note left on a windshield, an extremely public wedding proposal, child-porn charges, and a hit-and-run. All of this occurs within the first few minutes of beautifully shot footage, as Pollard weaves an intricate, visually gripping web, and piques the audience interest level
we're given pieces of a puzzle, and over the course of the next 95 minutes, are challenged to figure out who's doing what to whom, and why. The film could easily be titled Keep You Guessing.
In today's politically vitriolic atmosphere, one might expect a director to use a campaign angle to further some type of personal agenda. But Pollard takes a home-grown Louisville slugger to preconceived conventions, avoiding any political stance at all, and instead uses the film to illustrate what a high-stakes game life is politically, professionally, and personally for each of his well-formed characters. The deeply personal becomes politically charged, and the overtly political comes home to roost with the most serious of consequences. Blackmail, stalking, and the conflicting emotions involved with fulfilling a ménage a trios fantasy are all in play, and Pollard never insults our intelligence by spelling it all out for us. We're free to call 'em like we see 'em, and the fun to be had is in trying to pin the tail on the bad guy or girl or both.
After creating a wonderful comedy about Everyman in his first effort, Nice Guys Sleep Alone, Pollard shows us some definite range, going in a completely different direction with a dramatic work that keeps you guessing. As in his first film, Pollard wrote and directed Keep Your Distance, and again uses his native Louisville, Kentucky as a sort of character. While most films seem to be about life on one of the coasts, ignoring the millions in "fly over" country who prop up the film industry, Pollard stays true to his roots, and uses Louisville to great effect. The message comes through that life can be every bit as complicated for a southern talk-jock (or his assistant, or a traveling pharmaceutical saleswoman) as it is for a guy in the O.C or Manhattan.
Pollard has a knack for casting highly talented team players dedicated to the craft of storytelling, and that commitment shines through in Distance. Gil Bellows delivers a pitch-perfect performance as popular radio host David Dailey, and the stunning Kim Raver is ideal as his morally ambiguous poster wife, who wants it all, and is dead-set on getting it. Jamie Harrold, as Whit, Dailey's assistant, is excellent, and Jennifer Westfeldt is superb as a workaholic pharmaceutical rep being torn in different directions; like Bellows', her journey becomes ours. Christian Kane plays the trust-fund pop wannabe with conviction, and his obsessions help drive the film home.
Stacy Keach and Elizabeth Pena are rock-solid in their character roles, and my only complaint would be that they didn't have more screen time. Gary Anthony Williams, Cynthia Martells, Jenny McShane, and Dennis Burkley all round out the film nicely in supporting roles.
In today's politically vitriolic atmosphere, one might expect a director to use a campaign angle to further some type of personal agenda. But Pollard takes a home-grown Louisville slugger to preconceived conventions, avoiding any political stance at all, and instead uses the film to illustrate what a high-stakes game life is politically, professionally, and personally for each of his well-formed characters. The deeply personal becomes politically charged, and the overtly political comes home to roost with the most serious of consequences. Blackmail, stalking, and the conflicting emotions involved with fulfilling a ménage a trios fantasy are all in play, and Pollard never insults our intelligence by spelling it all out for us. We're free to call 'em like we see 'em, and the fun to be had is in trying to pin the tail on the bad guy or girl or both.
After creating a wonderful comedy about Everyman in his first effort, Nice Guys Sleep Alone, Pollard shows us some definite range, going in a completely different direction with a dramatic work that keeps you guessing. As in his first film, Pollard wrote and directed Keep Your Distance, and again uses his native Louisville, Kentucky as a sort of character. While most films seem to be about life on one of the coasts, ignoring the millions in "fly over" country who prop up the film industry, Pollard stays true to his roots, and uses Louisville to great effect. The message comes through that life can be every bit as complicated for a southern talk-jock (or his assistant, or a traveling pharmaceutical saleswoman) as it is for a guy in the O.C or Manhattan.
Pollard has a knack for casting highly talented team players dedicated to the craft of storytelling, and that commitment shines through in Distance. Gil Bellows delivers a pitch-perfect performance as popular radio host David Dailey, and the stunning Kim Raver is ideal as his morally ambiguous poster wife, who wants it all, and is dead-set on getting it. Jamie Harrold, as Whit, Dailey's assistant, is excellent, and Jennifer Westfeldt is superb as a workaholic pharmaceutical rep being torn in different directions; like Bellows', her journey becomes ours. Christian Kane plays the trust-fund pop wannabe with conviction, and his obsessions help drive the film home.
Stacy Keach and Elizabeth Pena are rock-solid in their character roles, and my only complaint would be that they didn't have more screen time. Gary Anthony Williams, Cynthia Martells, Jenny McShane, and Dennis Burkley all round out the film nicely in supporting roles.