A Wife Alone

Greetings again from the darkness. The continuing evolution of how we watch TV and movies will open up some opportunities for projects such as this 63 minute film from writer/director Justin Reichman and co-writer Pete Friedman. It's too long to be a short film and too short to be a feature, but the run time provides sufficient character development and story line.

With the exception of Mark Blum (Desperately Seeking Susan), the cast will be unknown to most. I was most impressed with Sean Patrick Reilly, who looks like a cross between Mark Strong and Justin Theroux. His role as the domineering Steve is the juiciest in the film, and he avoids over-reaching. In fact, it's quite impressive how the entire cast plays it straight, with no apparent scene-stealing attempts.

The story takes full advantage of double and triple-crosses and some nasty personal and professional deceptions. The high dollar escorts and special friends are played by actresses with distinctive Hollywood bloodlines. Genevieve Hudson Price plays Jaine (Park's wife). She is the daughter of Richard Price, the screenwriter for films such as The Color of Money and Ransom. Alesandra Assante has a smaller, but effective role as Barbs. She is the daughter of actor Armand Assante. Catherine Curtin provides an interesting take on Steve's fed up wife.

The fun as a viewer stems from trying to keep up with the twisted plots of revenge and comeuppance. While it's certainly not Hitchcock, if this is the type of "little" projects we can expect in the new world of on-demand and direct to cable movies, movie lovers will be satisfied.