Nov 242011
 

John Bolton’s “Breakdown” is both a study in economy – doing much with little — and in the joy of having fun. It features a who’s who of working actors in Vancouver. They all came out to have fun, and for many of them, I’d suggest, make fun of the high stakes melodrama many Vancouver shot TV shows and movies specialize in.

The tagline for the film is “A disaster film disaster.” Perfect. The tropes of the disaster film have basically become self-parodic in films like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow: where the world conspires to bring a broken family back together. It’s a tired formula, unwatchable. Bolton and his crew show us how tired the conventions are as they manage to shoot the major plot points and character development all in under fourteen minutes in a casting room.

It’s a beautiful disaster and strangely cathartic if you’ve been harboring low-level anger towards Hollywood disaster films the way I have.

Part of Vancouver, BC’s 2006 Crazy 8 Competition, Bolton and his team along with seven other teams were given eight hundred dollars to produce their short film. This year Crazy 8s enters its thirteenth year of supporting and challenging Vancouver filmmakers to make great short films.

The film stars Christopher Shyer, Amanda Tapping, Carly McKillip, Winston Rekert, Sonya Salomaa, Gary Chalk, William S. Taylor and Michael Coleman as themselves (in a way).

—R. W. Gray

  5 Responses to “Numéro Cinq at the Movies: John Bolton’s “Breakdown,” Introduced by R. W. Gray”

  1. Hilarious, crisp, brilliant. Especially the first 2/3. The scene between the mayor and the prostitute. The earthquake with collapsing couch pillows.

  2. So funny! I love the sofa cushions!

  3. Michael Coleman auditioning for the part of Gurdeep Grewal (and getting the part when he can’t even pronounce the name) – brilliant touch.

  4. So much fun. I love the scene where the three run “toward” each other.

  5. This was great! Bravo!

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