Bright

There's a REASON why "Bright" took "Best of Show" in this year's Tupelo Film Festival: It is, quite simply, a flash of great ideas and execution. The story is richly-layered, the script eloquent and original. Writer/Director Benjamin Busch has crafted a short film so well developed that it has the story appeal of a longer film without needless exposition. More to the point, you can't help but be drawn in by its multifaceted story because it appeals on so many levels -- intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and visual. The relationship between "Bright"'s central characters -- "Troy" and "Irwin" (played by Eric Nenninger and Robert Wisdom) -- is absolutely multidimensional. Armando Ballesteros' cinematography easily captures the archetypal spirit of this fine script. Editor Frank Reynolds' disciplined hand is evident throughout. Even Benjamin Keddy's minimalist score plays a huge role in its own way. There's more to this film than meets the eye -- "Bright" is a brilliant work -- and that's exactly the point. Overlook this film at your own peril, lest you find yourself in the dark without an Edison bulb to guide you back home.

The Hamilton International Film Festival, run by Slater Brothers Entertainment, was pleased to welcome Benjamin Busch and his film, Bright, to their annual film festival this past summer in Hamilton, New York. The Award Winning short film received a standing ovation and was one of the key shorts that played at the festival. The film was incredibly well done with acting performances that are truly memorable. The film played incredibly well and the story was both thought provoking and touching. Special attention should be placed on Busch's directing ability. The cinematography was beautiful as where many of the set ups throughout the film. The festival was thrilled to have the film in attendance.

This is a brilliant and sophisticated short film showing the vivid struggle of a young man overcoming his most terrifying fear. The film doesn't tell the story, it shows the story, giving credit to the audience for having the intelligence to follow a tightly bound script. Nothing is rushed, and the director is unafraid of using silence at times, without feeling the need to fill the heavy weight of that silence with unnecessary dialog. The true nature of the main character's fear is magnified by this quiet, and this even pulls at the viewer's own fears. I found it very effective.

The performance of the main character (played by Eric Nenninger) is subtle, and honest, without being overly emotive. There is a lot more scope to his story arc than can be shown in a short film, and a part of me would love to see a feature length version of Bright. But it also resides very well within the realm of the short film genre, because the viewer is allowed to fill in the rest of the story with their own imagination, making Bright unique to each person who sees it.

What struck me most was the artistry of the cinematography. Each scene seems to be so well crafted, and almost every frame would make a beautiful still photograph. This speaks volumes for the talent of writer/director Benjamin Busch, who closely choreographed every facet of Bright. The cast and crew obviously deserve a lot of credit too.

I highly recommend Bright, and hope it gets picked up by HBO or the Independent Film Channel so that more people may get to see it!

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.

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."