Directed by: Wesley Ellenwood Written by: Wesley Ellenwood Genre: Mystery, Thriller Length: 113 minutes |
No Blood Of Mine
For Victoria (Sierra Schermerhorn) the art of acting is what makes or breaks a woman. Appearing composed and in control is essential. Being a woman in debt to gangsters, and hoping your biological father will bail you out, it all comes down to presentation. Calm and collected. I mention her acting ability because it becomes a crucial part of the film later on. Her talent is hinted at during a scene in the opening act. In it, she is clearly scared and out of sorts, hiding behind her car. No trace of this is present a short while later. It's hinted again just before her meeting with her father. The visual effort to get herself under control and let her ability kick in. This is no normal father daughter meeting after all. Victoria was born from an affair and her father, Arthur Borglund (Dale R Botten) didn't step up to the plate. Not enough at least. So now Victoria needs money, and her father just happens to be the rich owner of a shipping business. See where this is going? The plan was to con her dad into purchasing her failed business. Giving her the funds to pay her debt to J.P. (Matthew Keith Thompson) before he finds her, and does the unimaginable. J.P by the way is the gangster you just "know" is closing in. Arthur however, is murdered in his sleep. Could it have been Arthur's entitled jealous son? Lord knows Evan Borglund (Nathan Christopher) wants everything for himself, and thinks Victoria is moving in to take everything. Or could there be more to this story? Certainly there is. "No Blood Of Mine" takes us down the rabbit hole where not everything is black and white. As law enforcement begins closing in Victoria, and her natural acting ability within the film, are put to the test. Family. Money. Murder. The perfect way to describe this title from Wesley Ellenwood.
Watching "No Blood Of Mine" was like watching the extended directors cut of your favorite film. You know the ones, with all the additional or extended scenes? I suppose that's my way of saying this is a needlessly stuffed movie. Needing scenes or dialog to push a story forward is one thing. Including items that don't really do much is something different. Especially when your film sits at around two hours. As I point that out, I'm not blind to the fact "No Blood Of Mine" doesn't feel that long. Until somewhere in the third act, as that familiar fatigue begins to eat away at you. The nice cinematography from Andy Chinn, and a perfectly fitting score from Lee Sanders keeps you in the loop. That and a slick edit. This title plays like any bigger studio film would, if you were in fact watching an extended version. But lets not forget that this is a micro production and with that said, I can't write that "all" the performances were perfect. Those occasional bouts of awkward line delivery were kept to a minimum thankfully. Never enough to make me want to get up and walk away. There were also a few notable characters and performances. Sierra herself as Victoria. Obviously. But also, in the supporting department, pretty much everyone who has more than one scene. I really want to mention Larry Yazzie as detective Rennie Dupree, but my take on his character is mixed. Performance based, Yazzie did a great job. Regarding his role? A little under used. Aside from being a vehicle to showcase a tunnel for later in the film, and a way to "up" the action a hair in the final act, the interest created for his character ends up amounting to nothing. So why all the extra scenes building his back story? This directly relates to the slight over stuffing of the title I was mentioning above. Shame really. The one thing "No Blood" got right was it's undeniable ability to keep the eyes of it's viewers onscreen. The fact I've been splitting hairs amounts to little more than the ramblings of someone who rants simply because he can. As the saying goes: those who can't do it, write about it? Something like that anyway. This was an entertaining film. Just not enough to keep me talking about it 12 months from now. It "is" safe to say that this title ranks within the top five micro budget movies I've seen this year; and I've seen quite a few. A humble bow from me to the "No Blood Of Mine" team. Thumbs up. I especially loved those closing lines. |
