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cpfelon
Reviews
Part of the Game (2004)
Worth a look, but not quite there
Part of the game was an alright production. It did have a degree of marginality about it though. The technical side of things had issues but are tolerable for the most part. It was in the story side of things where the film ran into problems.
The lead character of Robert (played by Richard DeKlerk) did not adequately establish his drug dealer edge side of his persona. Though DeKlerk did a reasonably good job in his performance, it just felt like the character lacked that swagger about him that really made us feel like he had that bad (criminal, tough, etc.) mentality in him. Though the focus of the film was not on that aspect of his character it was none the less lacking and seemed to take away from the believability of the character.
The attempt to use the "grity" hand-held camera feel for the film was also not used quite to its best affect. Though tolerable for most of the film, some aspects (such as the first shot establishing the building) should perhaps have relied upon a more steady look. Overall though I guess it did create a certain stylized effect which was reasonably effective. The film simply needed to pull away from it at times though as to not disrupt the desired emotional tone.
The doctor character did not seem all to well written in dialog or actions. It felt like doctor wanted to be the doctor from the Soprano's with an edge, I'm not quite sure. Whatever it was, it did not come off as a very believable character in this viewer's eyes. The silhouetted sequence was shot rather well though.
Finally, the dialog in general could have used an objective critique before filming began. Line's such as "...we need trees on this team and you're just a bush," "...facts are concurrent with..." (Robert went from street thug to English Literature professor in a heartbeat), and "...the plot thickens..." (yes that was an actual line) were just to cliché or not suiting of character. What appeared on the screen seemed like a script that could have used a little more time in the ringer.
Anyway, it is good to see homegrown talent getting recognition. Hopefully lessons will have been learned and future undertakings will show levels of maturation. Film is probably worth a look, if nothing else, if you're Canadian, at least check it out to support your own.