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Lamp Light
USA 2016
produced by Mason Rey
directed by Mason Rey
starring Mason Rey, Joel P.E. King (voice), Kelly Frances (as Kelly Frances Hager), Aria Rey, Rebecca Torres, Nathan Goss, Dr. A. Goodwin, A.J. Sweatt, and the voices of Chelsea Christopher, Tim Andrews, Michael Boykin, Susan Hale, Paul Schwartz
written by Mason Rey, music by Supine Sea
review by Mike Haberfelner
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It wasn't Don's (Mason Rey) day (or week or month) to begin with: He's
a tele-marketer and really hates his job, he's single and hates it, and
he's not sure about that whole online dating thing - and then when driving
through a tunnle, it just collapses onto his car, entombing him - but
miraculously leaving him unscathed, as the car caught all the blow -
though is ever so slowly giving in to the weight of the rocks upon it. Now
Don is living through all the motions, from fear to hope to desparation to
even a certain kind of indifference. And as it becomes more and more clear
that rescue won't be there any time soon, he starts to try to entertain
himself in more and more bizarre ways - until he makes contact with
someone he hopes to be the rescue team ... but it's just another driver
entombed just like him, Gym (Joel P.E. King), captured between the rocks
just few feet away, but unable to reach and meet in person - but at
least within earshot. With nobody else to talk to, Don soon befriends Gym
- sure, at first he's very irritated by Gym's laid back behaviour
concerning their predicament, but that eventually calms Don as well, and
he starts opening up to Gym about all the things that went wrong in his
life - including some he hasn't been aware of himself up to now. It's only
when he finds out that Gym is more likely than not only a figment of his
imagination that Don freaks out - but that's when everything might already
end due to another cave-in ... Lamp Light is a mighty
interesting film for sure, as it braves the almost unsurmountable
challenge to make something interesting out of something that's amost
entirely shot in one (very claustrophobic) location with just one
on-screen actor who's more than likely going gradually insane. And
somehow, the film comes out on top, thanks to an accomplished and very
compelling performance by Mason Rey, to very unusual camerawork that gets
the most out of its limited and limiting locations by using unusual
angles, lenses and the like, but first and foremost thanks to a screenplay
that's not only well-structured (and a story like this needs an especially
strong structure) but also draws a multi-layered central character with a
solid character ark and plenty of intriguing facets. And all of this just
makes this a really good watch.
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