REVIEW - Viaticum (Directed by Derek Frey)

The multi-award winning writing team of David Amadio, Steve Kuzmick and Gil Damon (The Book Club for Men, Awkward Endeavors, Kill the Engine, Motel Providence, Sky Blue Collar, The Ballad of Sandeep, America's Game) reunite once again here with prolific director and producer Derek Frey (Dumbo, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland) who has worked on major projects with Disney, and the legendary director Tim Burton. The writing team also take lead roles in the movie.

'Viaticum' is an unusual short film set around the death bed of an elderly man called Albert (played by Gil Damon). At Albert's bedside are his son Jason (played by David Amadio), his nurse (played by Kathleen Kozac, Awkward Endeavors) and the priest (played by Steve Kuzmick), who has been called to give the last rites and holy communion, collectively known as 'viaticum'; which in Latin means, provision for a journey. In other words, one might say the fare for the ferryman.

The opening scene is quite confronting and shows some decent attention to film grammar albeit with a limited variety of shots, which does include some careful close-ups to place emphasis, but this does all seem a bit short-lived and things seem to get a bit weird from here on, and not entirely all for the better. The performances seem a bit wooden in places, while bordering on melodramatic in others; the impression being was that the performers were either underacting or overacting, and it wasn't entirely clear if this was deliberate - perhaps intentionally styled as an alternative/abstract comedy presenation of sorts.

One example is the reaction of Albert's son, Jason, when he first learns that his father had murdered another man during the deathbed confession; as Jason turns to the priest to relay this astounding new information, quite literally smiling like a Cheshire cat - all rather weird and all rather incongruent - but probably entirely intentional. However, even if that was the case, the laughs weren't that loud, and there weren't that many of them.

Touted as a comedy, this won't be immediately obvious to all viewers, and the subtlety of the humour here, and some really quite bizarre yet specific character points may serve more to confuse than to amuse; the purpose of which only seems to have been to detract slightly from the semblance of realism. That said, it's not all bad, and there are definitely some commendable and enjoyable parts of this short - particularly a surprise in the latter part of the film, which takes the ending in a very unexpected direction, and is actually rather well written and nicely put together.

Filmed in black and white, I'm not sure this really adds anything to the storytelling here, particularly given that any solemnity or emphasis of mood is largely undermined by the subtle comedy, but it does work overall to give a watchable aesthetic. The use of B-roll and arty shots over the end credits are another pleasing aspect of this, some of which might have been better placed at the film's opening to help with setting the scene and situation.

This short overall is a tad confusing, and while I'm not entirely sure what it's trying to say, or even who it's aimed at, I am sure that 'Viaticum' will be enjoyed by fans of alternative/experimental comedy and film.