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To Jennifer
USA 2013
produced by James Cullen Bressack (executive), Jarret Cohen (executive), Jody Barton (executive), Chuck Pappas (executive) for Psykik Junky Pictures
directed by James Cullen Bressack
starring Chuck Pappas, Jessica Cameron, James Cullen Bressack, Jody Barton, Tristan Risk (voice), Maria Olsen, Marcus Bradford, Rebecca Abraham, Jarrett Furst, Jackie Bressack, Mike Blair, Angela Bray, Kitty Doll, Nella Jay
written by James Cullen Bressack, additional dialogue by Chuck Pappas
To Jennifer
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Joe (Chuck Pappas) has got a problem: He has found out that his
girlfriend Jennifer (Jessica Cameron), who lives in another town hours
away, is cheating on him. Now instead of just breaking up with her like
any normal bloke would do, he decides to go a different route and decides
to make a revenge video that will reveal her to be the bitch she really is
(in his eyes at least). So he persuades his best buddy Steve (James Cullen
Bressack) to come along and document the whole roadtrip to her on his
eyephone, and his stoner friend Martin (Jody Barton) to give them a ride.
Now while Steve goes along just to make a funny video, Martin's mind is
not yet addled enough from all the drugs to not see that this is a
terrible idea - and he tries everything to derail the project in Joe's
best interest, by trying to get Joe laid, even if he has to bring
prostitutes (Nella Jay, Kitty Doll) to do the job. After the
prostitute-episode, Martin is gone without saying good-bye, but he has
left Joe his car to continue the trip. The rest of the trip, Joe gets more
and more irritable and unpredictable, and when he and Steve finally pass
Jennifer's house and see her kiss another guy right outside on the street,
Joe has a nervous breakdown. But it's not until he faces Jennifer that he
shows his real face - and it's not pretty ... To Jennifer
is in equal parts road movie (though without the usual sightseeing
sequences accompanying the travel-experience), psycho-thriller of the
descent-into-madness-kind, and found footage film (which is why the film
was entirely shot on Iphone), all sprinkled with a touch of comedy - and
it's quite a fascinating experience being just that, as it's cleverly
structured, does bring its found-footage nature into the narrative rather
organically (even if the at times unnecessarily shaky picture does put the
Iphone as an appropriate camera substitute very much into question), and
the film features some carefully fleshed-out characters the audience is
actually able to care about (even Joe to a point). And add to that a very
competent cast, and you've got yourself a pretty good film. Recommended,
actually!
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