Bright

I really liked this film. The writing is elegiac and the directing elegant. Though a short movie, the performances are never rushed and the actors are given the space to take ownership of the moments. As a result the story accrues a deep emotional resonance.

Robert Wisdom is fantastic, digging in to create a rich and complex character. And Eric Nenninger's work as the central character carefully avoids the typical (read: banal) quirks and tics that are usual employed to indicate a character is damaged in some way and instead brings someone very real and captivating to life. the And any time one gets to see Andre Royo on film is a gift.

A wonderful debut(?) for director/writer Benjamin Busch who subtle writing is not without little gems of poetry.

Describing the essential requirements of a "skillful literary artist," Edgar Allan Poe wrote in a review of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Tales from an Old Manse": "The unity of effect or impression is a point of great importance... without a certain continuity of effort--without a certain duration or repetition of purpose--the soul is never deeply moved." Every moment, Poe said, must be "conceived, with deliberate care, (to create) a certain unique or single effect."

Benjamin Busch has created such a work of art with his short film "Bright," about Troy (Eric Nenninger) a young man who must overcome a paralyzing fear in order to move forward with his life. Every moment in the film is skillfully and deliberately planned to create a particular effect in the viewer. The film establishes a rich atmosphere from its opening moments and is filled with symbolic imagery, especially regarding light. Troy is raised by a blind adoptive father, Irwin (Robert Wisdom), who represents the iconic blind sage of mythology and guides Troy on what turns out to be a spiritual journey. Irwin is blind, but he can "see"; Troy is sighted, but his back is always toward the light.

In this dystopian future, Troy works as a restorationist, helping people regain their sense of continuity with their past by finding old-style original light bulbs for their homes. This is, of course, a metaphor for the conflict between what is natural and what is artificial, what is light and what is dark, in the search for courage and meaning in life.

The pacing is deliberately slow, filmed at "the pace of real thought," according to director Busch, who wants viewers to have the time to hear the dialog. As a result, viewers can contemplate philosophically meaty lines like "There's danger in all this safety"... "Someone who never sees, never knows"... "I miss the light but I can remember it"..."I loved and I lost, and I'm glad that I loved"... and "How much would you pay to be happy?"

"Bright" won the 2011 award for Best Short Drama and the Audience Choice Award at the Anthem Libertarian Film Festival.It is a film to be seen with friends, and discussed in long leisurely conversations afterward. As Poe said of Hawthorne's "Tales," "withal is a calm astonishment that ideas so apparently obvious have never occurred or been presented (like this) before." I think Poe would have been pleased with "Bright."

A fabulous journey into the mind, into the soul, into the past and into the future await the unsuspecting viewer. Ben Busch gently guides you into the serene, yet troubled world of a man/child who seeks the comfort of his childhood but finds himself in the harsh bright light of reality. It is a reality he tries hard to avoid facing. Ben Busch has produced on a shoestring budget a real masterpiece. It beautifully draws you to the key characters and gradually exposes each of their greatest fears, and their strengths. The dialogue is taut and poetic, the direction is smooth and flowing, the production qualities are impressively professional for such a low-budget film. This film deserves a large audience and this filmmaker, actor, director and writer deserves a shot at a big project. He captures his audience like few I have have ever seen.

I recently had the chance to watch BRIGHT at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival- one of several festivals was screening at in mid February 2011 as it began its tour on the festival circuit.

From the first frame to the last, this film is a cinematographic feast. Rich visuals support a skilled writing hand, and experienced direction in this longer than normal short film. It's length however, is not a detriment. The story takes as long to tell as it needs to and the running time felt perfect.

The acting is performed with such natural, believable deliveries that, as a viewer, you often feel like a fly on the wall witnessing the true lives of real people. Sometimes you will laugh with the characters, and at other times you will feel their pain, and ultimately their redemption.

BRIGHT, for me, is about the fear of living and coming to terms with that fear. It is something many people can identify with, and I highly recommend catching as it continues touring at film festivals.

As a film festival director who has watched literally thousands of film submissions, both short and feature- length, it's rare that I see a film with perfect pacing, but Bright makes that grade even though its pacing is measured and deliberate. Some might describe it as slow, and yet our screening committee found it a great pleasure, in this day of frenetic films, to be able to absorb the carefully constructed imagery and to digest the dialogue. So many of those images remain in the mind's eye even a year later – the sensuous orange peel, the glowing incandescent filament of a light bulb, Robert Wisdom's inward-looking gaze. It almost goes without saying that the cast, led by Eric Nenninger, is superb; each actor digs into the meaty script and wrings subtle, deeply felt emotions from it.

Benjamin Busch has been a favorite at Landlocked Film Festival since we got to know him through his earlier (also excellent) film, Sympathetic Details. It's been a pleasure to watch his growth as a writer and director.

The extinguished filament that closes the film leaves an afterimage that transforms the film into an allegory of light and dark, fear and courage, and how we form bonds with others, drawing courage and light from them. Speaking for myself, I give it my highest recommendation as a film worth seeing and a story worth telling.