One Night

One Night is a taut, tense, thoroughly-engaging drama I'd love to see spun out into a full-length feature. Writer/director Katherine Torpey uses an enticing mix of shooting styles and formats to add ingenuity to an already rock-solid, haunting story which unfolds with searing intensity, culminating in a shocking reveal this viewer didn't see coming. Torpey is aided and abetted by an excellent cast, notably Brandon Douglas and Jessica Dean, who lend a whole new meaning to the term 'dysfunctional relationship'.

One Night is a powerful 25 minute short which tackles real life issues in a dark, gritty and cinematic way. It's the story of two estranged twentysomething brothers who have dinner one night at the younger, artist's brother's Venice beach apartment. The artist brother and his live-in girlfriend entertain the older attorney brother while consuming a mix of alcohol and drugs. As the night goes on and the three get more and more wasted, the tension between the brothers increases leading to a powerful climax where a dark secret from the brother's past is revealed.

Writer/Director Katherine Torpey uses a variety of formats for this low budget film including black * white, color, 16 mm, and 8 mm. Torpey's approach to this dark subject is daring and haunting. With a feature length script and a real budget this director could do anything.