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Green Apple Entertainment
has selected July 9 as the DVD debut for director Thomas Rennier’s off-kilter romantic
comedy, Lionhead.
This is a debut feature
film effort from a first-time director?
Really? It doesn’t look it!
Before we get into the
nitty gritty of Lionhead, it should be noted that this isn’t the first indie
film making its way to the home entertainment market place in recent memory
that is showcasing production elements that belie the limits of its budget.
You would think that some
of the studio brass, who cavalierly toss tens of thousands of dollars at just
meaningless things, would begin to take notice of what is happening in the
indie film world. Some really nice
stuff is being produced on micro and limited budgets these days and you would
think that they’d be keeping a finger on that production pulse … it would just
seem to make good business sense.
They probably — the ubiquitous
they — are probably monitoring such
things, but some of these all-too-often big budget write-downs make you wonder.
True indie filmmaking is
going to break, we predict, into two groups.
Slick, well-produced, well-planned little films like Lionhead
(great cinematography/videography; sound, lighting and editing) and crap shot
on video that is tinny in sound, VHS-looking in presentation and dreadful to
watch. Well, maybe not to that extreme,
but you get the idea … watch enough indie films and you can quickly separate
one from the other (we have the 15 minute rule around here for screeners).
The difference between
these two groups is that the former will find acceptance on DVD, even Blu-ray
(and limited digital theatrical exhibition), and the latter will become
extinct. Learn the craft, plan and
execute … that’s the future. Adapt
technically or get the flip out of here.
The analogy would be something
along the lines of Gutenberg’s printing press.
It gave publishers and writers access to mass markets and as the process
was refined it allowed even the ramble in the street the technology to deliver
serious works. It has been the same for
the personal computer. Filmmaking is
simply following the same curve … quality output becomes accessible for those
who study, learn, plan (plan, plan and plan) and then hook the whole kit and
caboodle together with a well-told; well-acted story.
Enough of the soapbox. As to Rennier’s Lionhead, clearly he (and
his crew) executed a tight shooting schedule (Michael Madsen in the cast list
is the first tip off … probably only had access to the talent for three or four
days) and ended up with a sweet little comedy in the process.
Frank (Trevor Lissauer — Eden’s
Curve, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, etc.) wants to pop the question to
Darlene (Jill Crewshaw) and is more that aware that her father, Walter (a nice
turn by Madsen), doesn’t think much of him.
Ah-ha, a stunning engagement ring would not only sweep his girlfriend
off her feet, but it could also warm dear old dad to the idea of just how
serious he is … it is an excellent plan!
Frank, who can’t for the
life of him shut up for more than ten seconds (a real motor mouth, who just
spews out whatever is dancing around his frontal lobes at the moment), gets even
faster-talked by a hustler with a cool deal named Ted (Brien Perry), only he
doesn’t suspect that Ted is a hustler. In
any case, he blows ten big ones on a phony diamond ring that Darlene’s father
spots for what it is and is quickly sent packing.
Nebbish dolt gets
hustled, embarrasses himself and loses the love of his life … but that’s not a
feature film, it’s just a sad, sad short.
It is just the set up.
Frank plans to win her
back, but his chosen path to do so becomes a long and twisted (laugh-filled)
journey. He will get his money back
(good luck with that) and somehow that will solve everything, but his schemes seem
to work against him — the cops are of no help and even her father encourages his
daughter to start dating (candidates that are even worse than what her father
imagines Frank to be) as the broken-hearted Romeo stands by and watches
helplessly.
The story is like a
snowball, racing downhill, becoming more and more complicated — and funnier — as
it races towards its not so obvious conclusion.
Green Apple Entertainment
has two-and-a-half months to work the street for this one … it is a sweet little
comedy that does not disappoint. As for
filmmaker Thomas Rennier, if this is his first film, we can’t wait to see his
next … and the one after that.
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