Austin’s annual SouthBySouthwest gathering brings together film, music, art and technology for a few weeks of screenings, concerts and parties. Most people know SXSW as a music festival, but it’s just as big a film event, with hundreds of films and shorts playing all across the city.
One of the shorts chosen to play at the 2010 fest is writer/director Jack Daniel Stanley’s Depth of Phil.
Here’s the trailer for Depth of Phil…
The full-length short (is that an oxymoron?) will be premiering at the 2010 SouthBySouthwest Film Festival, but a friend arranged for me to see it in advance, so I thought I’d share my thoughts.
According to Depth of Phil director Jack Daniel Stanley, the film is loosely based on an Augustus Baldwin Longstreet story from 1833. It must be very loosely based on it, as I don’t think public libraries offered Internet-connected computers back then. The short follows Phil, a man who’s obviously fallen on hard times. When we meet him, he’s in the aforementioned library, using Facebook of all things to find a person from his past. We see a bit of their history in brief, beautiful flashbacks, but given what we learn about Phil, we’re left to wonder whether these memories are real or imagined.
As with most strong shorts, what makes Depth of Phil work is the power of the performances. In his previous short films, Stanley has shown his ability to get the best out of his actors and actresses, and Depth of Phil is no different. Gary Chason is pitch-perfect in the lead role, striking a good balance between the desperation of the street and the hope he feels in reconnecting with his past. Another of Stanley’s strengths as a filmmaker is his ability to stay connected to the story while utilizing some of the latest budget-conscious indie-filmmaker gear around. One gets the sense that a Jack Daniel Stanley film shot in Super-8 would be just as effective and interesting as one shot in IMAX. He never lets the perceived shortcomings of budget filmmaking get in the way of telling a compelling story. Depth of Phil is just more proof of that.
If I had to single out the film’s only weak point, it would be in the editing. Depth of Phil never overstays its welcome, but it does feel like it could have been cut just a little bit tighter. But again, that’s if I had to find a weakness, and the rest of the execution more than makes up for that. The cinematography of Vincent Pascoe paints the film beautifully, and matches both the story’s tragedy and its comedy.
I can’t say for sure whether or not this short will screen anywhere near you, but if it does, it’s worth seeking out. Depth of Phil is a fantastic indie short, part bitter, part sweet, and completely engaging.
