Loren Cass 1 1/2 stars
Lewis Brogan, Travis Maynard, Kayla Tabish
Directed by Chris Fuller
Shows again June 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Ten years from now, when his career has evolved, director Chris Fuller will look back on his first feature, Loren Cass, and think—that part was good, but why did I do that and that? That part’s bad. That part’s God-awful.
The 21-year-old director, writer, actor, editor and producer shows no fear. He has the audacity of youth.
Loren Cass is 83 minutes of tortured angst. It is set in 1997 in St. Petersburg, Florida, a year after race riots which were initiated by the shooting of an African-American by a policeman.
In the upheaved society that event caused, Fuller's characters look for some meaning in their empty lives. Fuller focuses on the existences of several characters.
The main trio are Cale (Fuller plays the role himself under the pseudonym Lewis Brogan), Jason (Maynard) and Nicole (Tabish). They are bored and wayward without dreams or plans.
The dialogue between the lovers Cale and Nicole is particularly inspired:
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Nothin’. What are you doing tomorrow night?”
“Nothin’.”
Okay, now.
Fuller says that in Loren Cass he tried to capture “the mind and soul of adolescence and translate it into images.” He tried to create “bits and pieces of the mind.”
Unfortunately the minds he captures are often vapid. The angst of superficial characters doesn’t exactly brim with interest.
One bad choice Fuller makes is the four times he leaves the screen blank to emphasize the verbiage. When you’re wondering if the projector broke or if Fuller ran out of film, it’s a bad sign. It’s a film, Chris.
It’s almost a certainty that in the future Fuller will have second thoughts about that ineffective gimmick.
Loren Cass also may have the worst cursers in movie history. Their dialogue is bad; their delivery is worse.
But Chris Fuller does have promise. At this point his best asset is his ability to create tension. Unpredictability breeds tension, and Fuller is adept at it. Fuller does have talent, and he can build on that.
The actors don't embarrass themselves—except when they swear.
Loren Cass is neither a success nor a failure. It has a young director who is a work in progress.