Splinter

I'm not gong to go into the plot because it should be seen and not spoiled, Marc Bernadins directorial debut exceeded my expectations. He isn't gong to be next on the list when Spielberg passes on a script but it was a more than solid first effort deserving of more chances to stretch his directorial skills.

His talented writing carries the piece much farther than the kickstarter budget should allow. He also proves that its good to have friends and podcasting partners allowing him to cast people like Battlestar Galactica and Lucifer star Tricia Helfer and Star Trek Picards Todd Stashwick.

This definitely has Black Mirror vibes to it but Bernardin keeps the suspense ramped up to a high level with the closed quarters and confined sets by not letting the audience know what's going on until they absolutely need to.

Young boy is on a plane that can never land for a reason. Group of women are his only companions and this has apparently been going on for some time. Don't expect the reason to be addressed in this short. And really what we do learn about the plot makes no sense anyway. Lots of dropped hints but no resolution because of the length.

So what we have is an at best D rate plot. Basically a bad Twilight zone. Too many actors of quality were hired, but they aren't used effectively. It's just Too ambitious for 15 minutes. Music/sound is super generic.

Pretty much overall very poor effort. I know most give this high grades, but their love for Marc is clouding their minds on this one sadly.

Just a quick review on this short. I know Marc Bernardin primarily from his podcast with Kevin Smith and they've been talking about this, Bernardin's short film and directorial debut, for the last few years. With the short being added to YouTube and made available to a wider audience than just the backers and festival audiences, I finally got a chance to see it.

Benjamin (Brooks Firestone) is a small boy who has spent almost all of his ten years circling the earth on a plane that virtually never lands. His teacher and closest confidante is Morgan (Yetide Badaki) who joined the flight on one of it's rare touchdowns. A midair collision with another plane forces the aircraft into an unscheduled emergency landing and Morgan is forced into action when Crawley (Tiffany Smith) another agent on the plane, approaches Benjamin with her gun in hand, planning to kill the seemingly innocent child.

I'd perhaps describe "Splinter" as a solid directorial debut for Bernardin, rather than the mercurial arrival of searing and undeniable talent. It's a story-based film, as you might imagine given Bernardin's writing background, rather than anything that requires expansive visual flair. The budget, boosted by Kickstarter campaigns, is maximised on a plane set that is dressed different ways for the scenes and maximised and some small CGI scenes of planes in flight. Bernardin wisely exploits the kindness of his friends when it comes to casting, with Badaki and Smith taking on two major roles, Tricia Helfer in a third and Yvette Nicole Brown and Todd Stashwick having small cameos. Their performances are all good.

I've deliberately left some aspects of the plot out of the description, so as not to give away anything that's going on. I'll try and stick to that here and just say that the concept is well suited to a short film, rather than a feature that would have to explore the idea deeper and be forced to give a (likely unsatisfactory) explanation.

It's good and I enjoyed it and I hope that Marc gets the opportunity to direct again, if he'd like to.