Divertimento

It doesn't feel like an indie movie, yet it's indie. It doesn't have all the tropes of a blockbuster, yet it feels like a blockbuster. It's not a short film, but not a feature either. Well, it's 'Divertimento' and it's crazy and massive and you should watch it, 'cause there is something here... very special.

Loved how the story is intellectual, and makes the moviegoer clearly work, and think, to bring it all together. Filled with plot twists and turns, it takes you on a psychological roller coaster ride from start to finish. Several questions are raised throughout and you think you know what's happening, what's true or false, until the end, which gives an answer to all the questions and is totally unexpected. But the movie is also pure entertainment, with a beautiful location, a mysterious mood and a brilliant cast. Not to forget the tension and the action, very creative.

A surprising film which doesn't let you indifferent. What you feel at the end is that this film is special, probably a masterpiece.

It was an honor to screen this amazing film at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival. Director / writer Keyvan Sheikhalishahi is extremely talented and I'm positive we will see many more wonderful projects from him! If you get a chance to watch this short film, be sure you do! You won't be disappointed.

What you quickly notice about this thirty-minute movie is that it has all the trappings of sophisticated big-budget international thriller. It's set in a real 18th-century French château. The characters are elegant in formalwear and have arrived for an evening of mysteriously sophisticated games. The plot is just complex enough to keep us intrigued though also a bit confused. The leads (Kellan Lutz and Torrey DeVitto, familiar from US television) are drop-dead gorgeous. Swedish actor Ola Rapace and German actor Götz Otto are on hand as potential villains. Both are veterans of the James Bond movies, and that's clearly no coincidence, as this flick has a definite 007 vibe. During a tense chess match, we can easily imagine Rapace as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. This isn't a straightforward thriller, though. As the story progresses, funny things happen with time and memory. In addition to the chess match, there is alternatively some kind of elaborate murder mystery evening going on, and we get intimations that there is another obscure level entirely to the action. Sure enough, by the end there is a twist worthy of a classic Twilight Zone episode. The film is quite well made - especially when you take into account that it's only the third movie by this filmmaker (Keyvan Sheikhalishahi, based in Paris) and that it was made when he was 21.

I love it ! Really, it's just amazing, the lights, the images, the links that are made, I mean everything is just perfect! I highly recommend it, the story is really great and well thought. I'm just shocked by the quality of the images, there is a real light game and I find it very very well achieved. I love it!

This short is amazing, it's super intense and captivating. The scenario is also very good and well thought. But one of the biggest strength of this film is for me is his staging, all these shots in this big mansion are magnificent, the effects are mastered to perfection, in short, a very cool short.