For this week’s film viewing I checked out ‘Holy Rollers’,
director Kevin Asch’s first film which was released in 2010. The film’s plot is
based on true events, which took place in the ‘90’s when Hasidic Jews from
Brooklyn NY were recruited as drug mules to smuggle ecstasy pills from
Amsterdam and other European countries to the U.S. The film focuses primarily
on Jesse Eisenberg’s character, Sam Gold, a young man living in a very
sheltered community whose tenants live their lives by the parameters and guidelines
set by their Jewish faith. Sam is working towards fulfilling his father’s dream
of having a rabbi son, but is sidetracked by the opportunity to make some money
when he unexpectedly becomes involved in his neighbors drug heist.
The film is an independent film. You can’t really call this
an aesthetic but something about lower budget films stylistically appeals to
me. The film was shot in a cinema
verite style. The camera moves with the subject of the frame, shifting with the
actor’s movement, creating a natural energy, which situates the viewer in the
juice of the plot. Another feature I really enjoyed about the shooting style
was the use of tight shots. When the actors face fills most of the frame a
similar result is achieved in that the viewer feels a certain connection with
the actor. The film moved at a somewhat slow pace, which felt tolerable because
the DP tactfully included many short shots. Within one scene we see many
different camera angles and breaks in shots which made time pass in a natural real-time
manner.
I really enjoyed the way the film was shot and took notes
from the DP’s way of going about this. The downfall of the film for me was in
the story line. It was hard to picture the fearful and sheltered Sam Gold transforming
into a drug runner with the ease the character embodied in the film. This was a
challenge though and didn’t take away drastically from what I found successful in
the piece.
All around a good, quick film. I recommend it.
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