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Disturbance 2013 (2004/5)
'Dir: Joe Burke
New York, Saturday night…Party night!
Howie (David Fink)
may have had a ball celebrating his birthday the night before, but he is still
in a party mood.
Hanging out in their ‘party aftermath’ apartment Howie and his friends
Jimmy (Evan Sierminski) and Lindsey (Janel Benisch) are getting ready for a
night on the town and all looks rosy.
But when Howie pops into the bathroom things are not so much rosy anymore as a vivid crimson, for there in the bathtub lies the blood-soaked corpse of a woman in her underwear!
Understandably freaked at this unexpected discovery the three friends try and
figure out what to do.
Deciding that if they call the police they could well be blamed for something
none of them have any knowledge of Howie, Jimmy and Lindsey plan to dispose
of the body….
An early (2004) short by film student
Joe Burke, “Disturbance 2013“ (the number of the apartment) amazes
at just how good it is given it‘s 5 hour, basically one take, shooting
schedule, but also suffers because of it when compared to the technical and
visual majesty of the later “Hunter’s Fall”.
New to his digital camera and unsure on what it would capture Burke (who wrote,
co-edited, shot, produced and directed) admits he over-lit the film by having
too many lights in the apartment turned on (digital cameras makes excellent
use of natural light) and as such the film tend to looks bleached out and cold.
Certainly the lush, technically and artistically wonderful visuals of “Hunter’s
Fall” are nowhere in evidence.
That is not to say this look detracts from the story though as this rather clinical
look to the cinematography compliments the basic nature of the plot, given it’s
premise.
As far as frame composition. Editing (with Adam Kaplan) and directing style
go though it’s yet another triumph and even this early on Burke shows not
only a technical know-how on movie dynamics but also an obvious knowledge of
cinema.
A sequence in the hallway for example cleverly moves the entire tone of the
film from one of mild comical morbidity to something darker, as the friends
finally decide to cross the line into illegality, thanks to use of slow motion,
visual/aural distortion and melancholy music.
In 2005 Joe went back to his rough original version of “Disturbance 2013”
and decided to give it a total make-over by colour correcting the footage and
adding sound FX and a score, which is where Justin
McGrath comes into the frame (so to speak).
McGrath and Burke were now acquainted after their work on “Hunter’s
Fall”, for which Justin provided a stunning soundtrack, and so McGrath
was asked to provide the film’s new sound design and music.
Once again McGrath has done wonders. The totally created from scratch sound
FX are spot on and his almost continuous score (far more ambiant/background
based than “Hunter’s Fall”) adds some essential ambiance and
atmosphere to the proceedings.
Acting wise things are fun and energetic, but generally very broad.
Fink has the largest role and makes a very strong first impression as he swaggers
into the apartment bashing down walls with his wonderful Bronx battering ram
line delivery. Throughout the film he will remain the focus and Fink certainly
has fun with his role. Like i said this is not very subtle, but it’s broad
and it’s the kind of hyper-realism that goes well with such blackly comic
material as a body in the bathtub.
Sierminski has a great early scene where his character poses in front of the
mirror, checking his abs and biceps are up to muster, and he does a perfectly
good job at interacting with Fink.
Janel Benisch tends to blend into the background on a few occasions, but that
is not so much her fault as the fact that her role is the least fleshed out
in what seems like a very ‘guy chums together’ set-up.
Burke’s script plays around with various styles. From out and out darkness
to Hitchcokian “The Trouble with Harry” style macabre humour, where
the practicalities of disposing of a body in a public apartment building come
into play.
There are also some fun dialogue exchanges between Jimmy and Howie that add
to the comically nightmarish surrealism of such a set-up.
Howie: “Who the fuck is that“?
Jimmy: “Who“?
Howie: “The chick in the tub”!
The finale reveals a low key twist that reverses the general tone of the movie
and manages to satisfy the expectations the preceding 12 minutes had built up.
All in all then a solid, well made exercise in schizophrenic black comedy/drama which , although it certainly shows it’s basically a hands-on filmic testing ground for Joe Burke, delivers genuine entertainment as it’s story plays out and certainly shows that Burke and McGrath in particular have the talent and skill to break out into much bigger things.
Once again ‘Elantra Films’
have put together a professional looking DVD presentation with a nice (non-anamorphic)
2.35:1 transfer and crisp sound.
Extras are trailers for “Disturbance” itself as well as “Hunter’s
Fall” and the upcoming “Coop’s Night In”.
A roughly 30 minute commentary track (the film is looped twice) with Burke,
McGrath and Fink provides some nice background and production history info and
rounds off the package nicely.
Pop on to the ‘Elantra’ website for more info on Burke’s films
and to order any of them. Support your friendly neighbourhood Indy film maker!
