I was lucky enough to catch "What Happened to Pete?" when it aired on Bravo a few years back. It remains one of my favorite short films to this day. If you've seen "Tree's Lounge," you know Steve Buscemi is a phenomenal director. "What Happened to Pete?" plays like a sketch version of the bar scenes in "Tree's Lounge." Its a deceivingly simple little film, with a brilliant comedic performance by Buscemi. (Mark Boone Junior and Seymour Cassel are wonderfully understated.) I adore Buscemi's choice of music- Brenda Lee's "Emotion" and George Jones's "When the Grass Grows Over Me" underscore the movie's tone perfectly. The film culminates with a truly surprising twist, (a rarity for shorts.) What I admire most about "What Happened to Pete?" is the way it manages to capture, (in a few short minutes), the dank grain and subdued despair of life in your average bar.
