A PUBLIC RANSOM Review

Release Date: Available Now via Vimeo
Director: Pablo D’Stair
MPAA Rating: NR
Film Pulse Score: 2/10

Pablo D’Stair’s debut feature, A Public Ransom features an intriguing story and some decent framing choices, but there are far too many nagging issues that prevent it from being a solid thriller.  The film follows Steven, a self-centered unemployed writer who finds a mysterious missing child poster drawn in crayon, only to find the girl has been kidnapped by an equally mysterious man named Bryant.  Steven disregards Bryant as a prankster but the more he investigates, the more it becomes clear that something is afoot.

The film is presented entirely in sepia tone with an added film grain filter, which is presumably to make it more stylish an noir-like, but it doesn’t work.  Most scenes consist of a camera in a fixed location with Steven smoking cigarettes and pacing back and forth as he talks on the phone.  Most of the time the lighting is off, making everything appear entirely too dark.  This actually works in some cases, with only being able to see Steven’s silhouette and the smoke billowing out out above, but this occurs far too often.  This makes everything feel as bland and colorless as the brown sepia that washes over the entire film.

The script is smartly written, however the actors simply don’t have the skill to deliver it in a believable manner.  The performances are entirely too theatrical, as if they’re performing a stage play.  Carlyle Edwards as Steven is the most egregious culprit of this, with every line sounding like nails on a chalk board.  Even though the story was a compelling one, I found myself wanting to turn the film off because every time Steven spoke I felt like the movie was punching me in the face.

There were also some sound and editing issues.  Several times the audio levels sounded off, with a degradation in the quality, and at least once an actor hit the mic when spinning in a chair that caused some feedback.  There were a few rough looking transitions between scenes, but these issues were minor and did little to detract from the film.

The plot progresses very slowly, with the intention of exploring Steven’s character in a psychological thriller sort of way, but the pacing meanders so slowly it quickly results in feelings of impatience.  Really, this is a concept that probably would have worked better as a short film, or even a novel.

Despite an interesting premise, A Public Ransom fails to capitalize on it and suffers from some painful performances and boring visuals.  I’ve certainly seen worse feature debuts and it looks like D’Stair is heading in the right direction, especially in the writing department, but this first attempt is admirable, but seriously lacking.