Kerberos

KERBEROS, directed by and starring veteran actor Kely McClung, is a gritty tale of corruption and redemption. Kely plays Mike Finn, an ex-con trying to go the straight and narrow when he is forced back into the life he was trying to escape when his daughter gets kidnapped. From there the story gets a little more complicated, with several of the characters in the movie having many interconnecting storylines that bring them all together at the end for a showdown.

Kely paints a vivid picture with his characters, who are all given backstory and a richness that most mainstream studio films tend to ignore. McClung gives each character their moment in the movie. In most cases this attention to detail furthers the story along, but with so many side plots, occasionally getting to a character’s “moment” can make you forget how that character got there in the first place. This would be a good place to praise Kely of his casting decisions. Everyone in this movie looks like they belong in the world that he has painted in front of them. Actresses like Courtney Hogan (Vinny) and Whitney Sullins (Katie Menacci), and actors Robert Pralgo (Lester Armstrong) and Stan Harrington (Tony Menacci) all give everything to their roles. The emotional range and passion that these people put forth make you believe what you’re seeing happen to them is a reality. Another thing to notice is the detail given to his locations. Whether it was cinematographer Bill Kelly (who’s visuals in the movie are striking and certainly go beyond what most first-time DPs are capable of), or Kely himself who dressed the sets, they feel like real places that exist in this harsh world that he has built around his characters. There are no bare walls in any of his sets, and nothing looks like it was just thrown together. This movie feels “lived in”, in the way that a jail cell feels “lived in” (and I mean that as a compliment). Another nod to the cinematography is his filming of action scenes. These were shot and edited beautifully. Where most movies these days rely on quick cuts to sell the “fake” action that is happening onscreen, Kely (being a stunt person himself), allows the camera to linger on his fight scenes a bit so you can actually feel the raw carnage.

A couple small points of contention I did have was with the editing style, and the story structure. I’m sure this goes along with McClung’s extreme attention to detail, but occasionally (it seemed like this got better in the 2nd and 3rd acts) you would see multiple cuts from multiple angles of a character doing something as benign as lighting a cigarette. While I certainly think that jump-cuts are used way too much these days, a couple of shots lost would not have hurt the audience’s understanding of the situation and still moved the story along. In a character driven piece like KERBEROS, once the audience in on the ride, you have to keep the pace of that ride until the end, or the audience might become confused. As far as the story structure is concerned, there was just too much story going on in this movie to keep track of, and I believe the movie would have benefited from one or more of these plot lines being cut.

Overall, a fine looking movie with good acting, an engaging story, and great action. What more can you ask for?

For more info on this movie go to http://www.kerberosbites.com/