Broken

There was no reason on this green earth to have spent so much money ($8,000) and time (Just see the 3 hours of bonus features) to make a really bad movie. What was Alex Ferrari (Director)and Jorge F. Rodriguez (Producer) thinking? I guess something along the lines of getting their ethnic (but cute) looking lead actress (Samantha Jane Polay)strapped to a chair. My favorite part of watching this DVD is when the filmmakers to the surprise of everyone announce that all the actors on screen that they had treated as extras from a bad Matrix ripoff actually had character names (Marquez), as if the poor actors in this film needed to be singled out further. Let's see what else can I single out. Oh, the usual; bad acting, bad sound, it looked like it was shot on VHS, bad direction...wait now it's just getting too easy. I'll stop cause I'm falling asleep just thinking of that thing they call, "Something that Quentin Tarantino might have done on his day off." Please.

I eagerly awaiting the DVD availability of Broken after viewing the trailer. The trailer was awesome and the editor made the most of the high production value of the film. However, I was someone disappointed with the "other" aspects of the film. The acting was decent on all sides as was the direction, but the story itself was lacking, too conventional and sometimes longwinded. N one can deny the high production value of the short. The filmmakers undoubtedly spent a lot of time, energy and effort to take the production value out of the low altitude budget range low budget film-making and into the stratosphere. they succeeded on all levels. And with the inclusion of over three hours of behind the scenes, how they did it footage, the DVD is worth a buy.

Broken, made for $8,000. That's right, $8,000. Wait... $8,000. Just in case you hadn't seen that anywhere else or heard it before. This video looks like it was made for a lot less. I'm not easily impressed by standard camera angles and color correction. What I am impressed with, is depth of field from a short camera lens. This video has none. It looks flat like video usually does.

It's not a film, as it was shot on video. It's a video and these people are video makers. But, let me get to the meat. Wait, there is none. Apparently the Joker has lost his makeup and for absolutely no reason, whatsoever (at least not that the audience is aware of) he kidnaps some woman in a t-shirt and claims that everyone in the room wants to kill her. Um... why? So the video makers seem to think that if you don't tell the audience anything that that now becomes tension. Maybe that's how stupid people see it, but with people with one iota of intelligence, this comes across as preposterous and boring.

The acting is not atrocious, but it's not good either. I've heard people deliver their lines like they're reading them. These actors don't do that, but what they do do, is take themselves entirely too seriously. If they had, perhaps, planted their tongues firmly in their cheeks, I might have enjoyed the performances.

The action scene, there is one, near the end. Was shot adequately enough, but for what they're doing in this short, it doesn't need to be anything special. The lighting was about the ONLY thing that was done really well. Honestly. I've seen indie films/videos done for far less that actually look better than this.

Was this the end-all/be-all of indie film/video making? No. Not even remotely. Would I go see a big screen version of this? No. Not even remotely. Would I recommend this to other indie film/video makers out there? Certainly. If for nothing else, it shows you what can be done with a micro-budget. Also, not to take anything away from the makers of this short, but they really need to learn story telling above and beyond anything else they may think they need to know.

Recently Alex Ferrari sent me a copy of the short movie he's just completed along with his co-writer/producer Jorge F. Rodriguez, called Broken. Going by the trailer I'd seen on the site I wasn't sure what to expect, it looked slick, it looked high budget, but it was cut really fast making it difficult to gleam much from it other than style. In a fifteen minute short, I guess that is to be expected of its trailer.

Ferrari is someone who comes from the conventional film making routes but became bored and disillusioned with the whole process, and I would presume industry. He turned his back on this high budget, overly engineered process and looked to see if he could make an independent movie for a small budget and still make it look and feel like a Hollywood movie.

The question is did he succeed? Well I think that's slightly unfair to ask so early on, so let's just look at the short first and then we can make a decision.When I started to think about this review I looked at the different elements of the short. The story is pretty simple and is connected to two simple ideals, Kafka and Hitchcock. It looks at someone who is taken from their normal surroundings and existence and pulled into a world they don't understand with events spiralling around them. It's a classic and effective tale to tell, and also quite stunning to get across in a mere fifteen minutes, but they do. The paranoia and confusion that you see throughout Le Procès (The Trial) and North by Northwest is there, and tangible.

What does strike you throughout the movie are the high production values. The lighting is superb, dark, tight and claustrophobic. The effects are very visual and don't fail to impress when you realise the budget involved and the products and process used.

For me there were a couple of jarring moments that took me out of the movie briefly, and they were all down to some of the actors in a more action sequence just not committing themselves totally and therefore slightly missing the mark. There's also one stock moment that slightly disappointed me because up to that point it had all felt so fresh and unique.

Not that much I'm sure you'll agree, and definitely not so annoying that your experience will be marred by it. You're likely to see much more of these in any fifteen minutes of a Hollywood movie with hundred times the budget and production possibilities, and much, much less style and passion.

For me the bad, or is it good, guy played by Paul Gordon is the winner in this piece as far as the actors go. He's slow, deliberate and doesn't give out too much. There's enough brooding badness to suit and yet a touch of something more hidden in the background...we'll never know, the fifteen minutes are up and you're left with your imagination and many questions, and that's a big win in my book. Unlike most Hollywood movies when the credits role and you start to think about the trip home, what's for tea, work tomorrow, this filled you with questions and a desire to work out who, what, why.

So, does it manage to do it? Without a doubt. The camera work, editing, restrained writing and likewise performances bring it all across wonderfully. With a little more on some of the actors more action performances and effects you would never have realised it wasn't a full budget Hollywood short.

Ferrari, Rodriguez, Gordon and the rest of the team are definitely people to look out for.

Alex Ferrari is the king of what i'll call "turd marketing", an olive oil salesman, passing himself as some kind of filmmaking guru. The truth is that Mr. Ferrari is so skillfull at BSing and marketing his turd movies and products that people are actually fooled into thinking they are good. He now has a "podcast" where he tries really hard to sell himself as a "hustling" filmmaker and director.. and yet in his "20 years of experience" he only made a few horrible shorts.... which is really a good thing, because the world is already cluttered with too much garbage..

His first short, "Broken" is so laughably bad, that i thought i was watching a parody or a comedy. The directing of the actors is non-existent.. the actor's performances are so cheesy and over the top, and the plot is so juvenile, that the whole thing could pass for a freshman filmschool project. The action scenes are laughable.. the only thing that saves this cheesefest from being a complete wreck is the fact that Mr. Ferrari colorized the whole thing to give it a more professional look.

I felt bad for whoever got taken by this turd salesman, and the five star reviews left here by his sockpuppet accounts and purchased this piece of garbage on DVD...what a ripoff.. I have seen teenage film students put out better and more interesting shorts than this laughable waste of digital bits.

The other two shorts done by Mr. Ferrari feature more-of-the-same horrible overacting and juvenile plots.. so obviously this genius hasn't learned poo-poo in his "20 years of filmmaking" Mr. Ferrari is an inspiration to everyone, because if such a talentless hack like him can pass himself as a "filmmaker" ; anyone has a chance!!!

To top it all off, the ever fat and lazy Turd salesman is now selling a "film school" video series in Udemy, that is comprised of ten-year- old, outdated, rehashed and recycled "behind the scenes" and "making-of" videos of his cheesy shorts and his idiotic podcast videos, so anyone can now learn the difficult art of making terrible, overacted movies with amateurish plots.. with plenty of guns and cheesy FX, of course! You too can now learn the secrets of the turd marketing!!

Remember kids.. no amount of turd marketing, special FX, stunts, guns and props, concept art and iphone apps are going to make up for competent actor directing, having a good story and an interesting plot. Mr. Ferrari's horrible shorts and failed career as a "filmmaker" are living proof that there is no replacement for real talent.