At 45 minutes, "The Hand Bag" is the first feature film coming off the blocks for Atlanta-based Alvondo Vinson, who shrewdly leverages lighting techniques mastered in the still photography world and adapts them with great success to the moving pictures game. It's an inspiring reminder to budding filmmakers: At some point, it's time to get the damn camera out and start shooting (and editing and growing), or risk never becoming a filmmaker in the first place.
Violence is a recurring theme here; revenge-driven, but non-traditionally so. False imprisonments, serrated hacksaws, and future dead people reign supreme. The cinematography is solid throughout, with impressive aerial shots punctuating the winding roadways symbolic of the paths its characters are heading down.
For all the corporate hugeness the world associates with Amazon, the company's online ecosystem offers an incredible DIY film publishing platform with which to get seen and heard (and sometimes even paid). Here's hoping "The Hand Bag" is one day the film that started it all for Alvondo Vinson. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
