INDIE MOVIE REVIEW FROM CINEQUEST: FALLEN DRIVE

     FALLEN DRIVE 

A couple attends their high school reunion with an agenda 
Written & Directed by Nick Cassidy & David M Rice
Director of Photography: Josua Fischer
Editor: Kenji Ito
Stars: Phillip Andre Botello, Maryana Dvorska, Nick Cassidy, Jakki Jandrell, Donald Clark Jr, Josh Thrower 

Genre: Thriller

WHAT THIS MOVIE DOES WELL:  I think the most amazing thing about this movie is the way it plays chess, when you see and know all the moves ahead of time, and manages to keep you riveted and engaged throughout.I loved watching the character arcs do these interesting dips and dives, wherein no one is ever fully good and no one is ever fully bad and the motivations and ambiguity of those lines are blurred at best for us the audience but hardly ever for them the characters. That's where the acting prowesses of every one in this cast comes in handy. I especially loved Donald Clark Jr here as Dustin, he's the scene stealer for me. When he comes into the picture the tension and the verocity in which this story accelerates all around his non chalant, very mysterious approach is some of the most interesting moments here. I think every character though has an incredible moment to shine and when they do, they knock it out of park. Nick Cassidy as Liam sets the stage while touring the house on his phone, just a great way to foreshadow us into what he feels coming already and letting us in on that is key to selling what it is to come. Maryana Dvorska as Ivy plays coy and seduces with the best of them on screen and it propels and kicks a little dirt onto the growing volcano about to erupt. Jakki Jandrell shows off a moment of impressive control and poise that no one else around seems to be able to maintain when everything just turns 360, and especially when it looked very unlikely her character Charlie possessed such a quality. Equally impressive is her on screen partner Reese, played by Phillip Andre Botello. Botello shows why challenging yourself as an actor instead of chasing the paycheck pays off in spades. He has this presence on screen that impressively uglies only him while everything around him seems pressed to be "normal. It is in one of the scenes we talk about in an interview I did with the cast and crew that this is showed off maybe for the film's funniest (not meant to be) moment. 

He is commanding and anchors this movie very, very well. While Josh Thrower does everything he can to prove that there might be a "good guy" in this movie after all and does it with such a let loose goofiness and douchebaggery that it never comes quite off as his character Patrick hopes. I loved that exploration within the character by Josh. 

Beyond the advanced acting classes and interesting dynamics of the scenes and the situations this is all so beautifully framed and worked into a frenzy with a precision that I think is uniquely beneficial to the one location aspect. Often we see alot of directors and DP's want to move the walls and paint a picture through quickening pans and zooms. Here Josua Fischer's mastery of still framing, slow pans away, and overhead shots (which I think are so riveting here) are exactly the kind of pin setting that allows us the audience to absorb and stay with the performances before the pins get ocked down. It is a slight of hand that I think also builds a lot of the reveals so well here. The shot overhead of some cleaning up being done, is one of the most impressive shots I have seen of all the movies I saw at this festival and maybe of this year of films I have seen so far. On par is the way in which Kenji Ito fills the frames by hard cuts into the next moment as almost a cadence to a soundtrack rhythm that pulses upward into a frantic tension that never crescendos into a full blow craziness, in fact the cuts often soften us back into a reality just long enough to push our buttons again. 

WHY CHAMPION THIS MOVIE: 

It's that presentation and vision that shows you this entire cast and crew is just getting started and scratching the surface of what everyone of them is capable of becoming and doing. Nick and David's vision has a very settling feeling in that I think over time will find a voice that becomes their signatures and brings you movies you will not forget for a very long time. This one included. I think that of all the actors here as well. Each of them are just finding what they do well and this movie has certainly helped bring a lot of that out in them. I think Josua Fischer is maestro and I look forward to watching anything he shoots and his counterpart Kenji Ito has a deft and skillful craftmanship to tell the story that needed to be told here. Anyone who knows me, reads my reviews, and knows me knows I love championing First time filmmakers who show potential even when there is a lot of first time, not mistakes, but hiccups, and this movie has a couple. However the briliant moments outweigh the small nitpiks I can make. Which this movie has quite a few of those, even ones I never seen before, and that's the exciting part of why I will champion this movie forever because its the first time for a lot of those involved that we as an audience got to not just experience them but to know as an audience it won't be the last tiem we get that privilege. How do they top themselves? That will be the question we ask and I don't know if there is a better exploration to take as a a cinephile who will watch everything everyone involved here does now. If for no other reason Fallen Drive has given me that but it truly has given this viewer so much more.  


YOU CAN CHECK OUT JOE'S INTERVIEW ON OUR CHANNEL  WITHTHE CAST AND CREW AFTER THEIR PREMIERE AT THE 2023 CINEQUEST FILM & CREATIVITY FESTIVAL