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Coop’s Night In (2005)

'Elantra Films'

Dir: Joe Burke

Cooper (Michael Weinberg) is awakened from an erotic dream by the unwelcome intrusion of his phone. With an exuberance that belies the late hour his friend Max (Derrick Trumbly) tells him he’s coming over, despite Cooper’s insistence that he has to be up early for a staff meeting at work.

Cooper lives at home, works all his spare time and misses out on the fun and parties that Max revels in. He’s also got a crush on the girl of his dreams (literally), named Liz. But like everything else he simply puts love on hold for the practical things in life.

Knowing that Cooper’s parents are away Max insists on his friend having a party and gets the ball rolling with a pre-party warm up by inviting Liz (Meghan Murphy) and her friend Kate (Leah Morrow) around.
Despite knowing he will have little time left to get any sleep before work Coop agrees to Max’s idea and prepares to finally take a shot at putting his own happiness before the drudgery of enforced responsibility. And it will be a night to remember….

 

Indy film maker Joe Burke’s latest enterprise is also his longest. “Coop’s Night In” just breaks the 20 minute mark and Joe has utilised this extra time to create his best observed work yet, with more complex characters and lovely looking visual set-ups.

This time Burke hands over cinematography duties to Christian Sprenger and luckily the film is in safe hands here.
Joe was responsible for some striking cinematography in the earlier “Hunter’s Fall” but this legacy of lush visuals and atmosphere has been carried over by Sprenger wonderfully.

An entire set-up inside 2 or 3 rooms could have meant drabness in the look of the film and a sparseness to what could be done with the set-ups, but with some well crafted master shots and well edited in (by Burke) close-ups there is an energy here that you would not expect to feel with such a basic, dialogue driven, premise.
The lighting is also splendid and warm. The highlights here are the initial chat between Max and Coop in the kitchen with minimal, mostly recessed, lighting and the relaxing candle-lit bathroom sequence, a look that is essential in creating the loose, calming atmosphere (mixed with the pot being smoked) that will allow for the opening up between the four friends.

Adding to the highly effective ambience of the piece is a fine, strongly acoustic, score by JJ Reed that fit’s the images (and the emotions) perfectly. Joe Burke it seems just can’t help picking talented guys to provide excellent scores.

With any character piece the ultimate responsibility for it’s basic success or failure lies at the feet of the writer and the actors. But we have nothing to worry about here.
Burke’s script is a perfect mixture of general bullshitting, nervous ‘getting to know you’ moments and heartfelt personal revelations.
And the dialogue is also used to show us the general personalities of the characters, and relationships they share, in the quickest and most efficient way possible given the small amount of time Burker has to play with.
A nice example of this is an early conversation when the loud and buzzing Max proudly gives details to Copper concerning his unexpected sexual conquest the night before with the obviously hot Mindy. . It perfectly sketches the basic way these two guys live their lives.
Coop: “You use protection”?
Max: “What are you, my Mother”!

Coop’s sudden change of heart whenever the girls (especially Liz) agrees with Max about something he initially thought was a bad idea is also an effectively humorous way of showing the inner conflict between enjoying his youth and the responsibilities he feels beholden too. As well as just being a sweet way of highlighting his eagerness to be seen as cool in front of Liz and to ensure she notices him.

But this is no cookie cutter teen-antics flick and the initial (even cliché) sketches of Coop and Max as the geek and the lovable jock are morphed into something far deeper and layered during the finale sequence where they all get high, move to the candle-lit bathroom and shoot the breeze.
Here Burke truly opens up his characters as they move from general light hearted banter to something more personal.
Cooper is the first to open up;
“When I was young I couldn’t wait to get old…But now not a day goes by, when I don’t wish I could be that little kid again. Just completely free of all responsibility”.
A remark that shows how the adult freedom he has is subject to controls and regimen that are actually counter to that freedom. As his worry (and the chains it puts on him) about being up early for the meeting at work shows, and yet it is something he has no interest in, or ultimately has any baring on his wider non-materialistic future.
Even the philosophical, contemplative side of Max is shown to us and is becomes one of the most effective parts of the film, and Derrick Trumbly does a superb job in essaying this pivotal change in his character.

And that brings us of course to the performances.

The already mentioned Trumbly cleverly walks the line with his portrayal of Max in the opening scenes. Max could easily have become (at least to this reviewer, who only really has time for American movie teens if a guy in a hockey mask is decapitating them) an annoying presence as his loud, expletive filled speeches fill Coop’s kitchen. But thankfully Derrick always ensures that there is something intangibly likeable about this fun-loving rogue and the later, more sombre, scenes are the icing on the cake as he fully rounds out Max.

Michael Weinberg plays the perfect foil to Max’s initial, robust, demolition of Coop’s sleep time and you can genuinely see why these guys are friends even though they seem so at odds with each other.
But later he will really come into his own in the scenes of nervous, sexually hesitant, conversation and bonding with Liz and Kate and especially during the finale interaction the friends share in the pot smoke filled bathroom as Coop struggles with that all important conflict of what’s responsible and what just feels so right.

But this is not a two-piece movie of course as we have the catalyst’s in our set-up, Liz and Kate.
As Kate the genuinely striking Leah Morrow gives us a truly likeable, open, fun but grounded character.
Kate is not a fool when it comes to the obvious attraction Max has for her but, one playful kissing scene with Liz aside, she never uses it to tease and is always in control. She is not sure what, if anything, will happen this night but she is neither flirting heavily and trying to push something to happen or backing away and causing conflict that would ensure an early end to the night. She likes Max and she waits to see what develops and her dreamy, stoned but thoughtful contemplation of Max’s other side, in the bathroom scene, is marvellously done.

Dark haired Meghan Murphy also does a good job in what is the smallest of the four roles as far as dialogue is concerned. She is certainly pretty and makes sure that Liz comes across very different from Kate. Liz is a quieter person and is more of an observer on life, and as such we can see the appeal she holds for Coop. And Murphy handles the final scenes alongside Weinberg wonderfully.

“Coop’s Night In” is basically a character/relationship piece with no big story to tell or revelations to place before us (ultimately I found “Hunter‘s Fall“ more satisfying), but that’s okay.
It’s obvious that here Burke is honing to a razor fine edge his technical and writing skills and showing how well he can handle dialogue, actors and their characters.
And with the four finest performances seen in his films to date, he has chosen some exceptional young performers to deliver his vision.
It’s the strongest example yet of the craftsmanship that Joe Burke explicitly carries off himself, and for his judgement in general when choosing the best cast and crew to help him bring his visions to life.

“Coop’s Night In” is presented in a very nice, crisp (non-anamorphic) 2.35:1 transfer. The sound is excellent and carries both dialogue and music perfectly.
Extras will include a ‘Making of..’ featurette, and audio commentary and trailers for “Coop” itself as well as “Disturbance 2013” and “Hunter’s Fall”.
As always the advice is to go to the ‘Elantra’ website and support Joe Burke and his artists, as Indy film making should always be nurtured. Here’s hoping for a feature length offering soon.