The Guardian (2008) - By Duane L. Martin

Film Reviews: The Guardian (2008) - By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Saturday, January 03, 2009 @ 20:19:52 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

Just as I was about to put this issue together (3 days late sadly due to some unforseen issues), I got a request to review this short film from Italian director Andrea Ricca. His e-mail basically said it was a zero budget short film shot in Salerno, Italy in August of 2008 with an old miniDV cam and then added in some CGI stuff afterward. I was getting ready to send it off to Josh Samford to have it reviewed, but then I noticed the link he sent along with it was a video link, so I got curious and went to check it out for myself. The fact that I've decided to delay working on an already delayed issue to write this review should tell you something.

The Guardian is about an archaeologist type guy who's driving around looking for something. He happens to find this old urn buried in the dirt, which he picks up and brushes off. It's then that the skeleton of a Roman soldier appears. He wants that urn, and the archaeologist doesn't want to give it to him. That doesn't go over too well, and a chase ensues, with the skeleton basically latching on to the guy's car and causing him to run off the road. Finally the guy dumps out the contents of the urn, which appeared to be an old dried up something or other, possibly a heart, and then he stomps on it, causing the skeleton to disintegrate. That's pretty much it, but for a four minute and eleven second movie, that's a lot to get in there.

It's funny how you can go into something with low expectations and every so often be pleasantly surprised. This was one of those times. This film was incredibly well done and looked great in my opinion. Well, as great as a flash video can look, but the quality tooked like it would be there even on the original.

What really struck me the most about this film was the CGI. Often, CGI in independent films ends up looking fairly hokey, but this was actually really well done, and the interaction with the human actor was about as done about well as can be expected. The acting on the part of the human actor, Michele Di Mauro, was also very good, and quite natural considering he had to interact with something that wasn't there.

I'd also like to mention that the camera work was also rather impressive. The shots were well set up and every scene looked like it was shot with a lot of thought. The scenery around the area the film was shot in also helped with the look of the film. The area is green and very beautiful, which though I'll admit it didn't really seem like the kind of a place you'd find an urn like that, nonetheless it was still a beautiful setting.

It's not often that we get foreign independent films to review here on Rogue Cinema, so it's nice to be able to see independent films like this from other parts of the world now and then. It adds a little international flavor to the normal grind of view & review, and for me, this movie was really quite flavorful.

If you want to check it out for yourself, the film is viewable online at http://www.youtube.com/user/GuardianShortMovie. I definitely recommend checking it out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.