SOME OF US HAD BEEN THREATENING OUR FRIEND COLBY Review

Release Date:   March 24th, 2016 (via NoBudge.com)
Director:   Chris Rubino
Run Time:   16 minutes

Slick and visually appealing in a number of ways, Rubino’s short film, Some Of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby, happens to be a fairly straightforward cinematic adaptation of a Donald Barthelme short story of the same name. Several adjustments and changes, although minuscule in terms of ultimate consequence, can be found yet the crux of Barthelme’s narrative remains unaltered with generous portions of his text being lifted and repeated verbatim via a voiceover analysis of the storyline’s trajectory which consists of a teenaged congress organizing a statement-making soiree.

Rubino’s film is undeniably polished with Reed Morano’s cinematography a prominent centerpiece within an otherwise dull arrangement; the lighting, color palette and the other aspects that bolsters the visuals are decidedly effective; unfortunately, they reside in a film that has little else to offer, marginally attaining memorability through a sporadic implementation of overheads (and that’s if I’m being overly generous).

All aspects float between points of serviceable and above-average, yet Rubino fails to mark the original source material with any semblance of an original signature style of his own which renders the entire affair needless, in a sense.