Grind

I’ll probably figure it all out someday.

Shadowplay is a short student film directed by Jae Kim and written by Mike Natale and Nick Young that premiered at the C.W. Post Student Film Festival, as well as available streaming online. The short piece probably did not garner a lot of attention being a student film to come out of the modest Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus, and upon watching it myself, I have absolutely no qualms in saying that I am glad that is the case. I would really like to say that I hope this film gets lost in the archives of other student films and hopefully retains no following online. The opinion I have appropriated from this film is not without reason, in fact the reasons are abundant. From the obvious problems with the acting in some cases and the unimaginative writing, to the less obvious problems of a clearly ego driven conception that make this short film one that should at all cost be avoided, unless of course you’re into the cliché stories of jaded, but sensitive rock stars who die young and almost entirely in vain.

Shadowplay is a story about Liam Keatan, (an obvious anagram for writer Mike Natale) and the events leading up to and surrounding his death. Differing parts of the movie show Liam and his band Liam Keatan and The Stage (a fictional band played by real life band The Cowboy Presidents, featuring lead actor Michael Derek on lead vocals as opposed to real life lead singer, writer Mike Natale) playing their songs at a supposedly crowded Long Island venue, as well as some mannered black and white scenes portraying an interview between Keatan and a seductive reporter who tries to get to the root of Keatan and his bad boy rock persona. Aside from Keatan, the rest of the movie shows the reactions of the band, their manager and Keatan’s girlfriend to the death of the proclaimed rock star.

The movie delivers stunted characters and a weak unoriginal story reminiscent of highfalutin rock movies about true to life rock legends, but without the substance of an actual rock figure. The acting in the film is either overly dramatized or devoid of any emotion whatsoever. In most cases I would think this was a parody of such films, but there is too much evidence to support that it is indeed a poor attempt at manufacturing a great rock icon through unnecessary and redundant references to actual musicians and their prolonged status.

Liam Keatan himself is a poorly developed character. Keatan is supposed to be the new bad boy of rock. Even though his status as a musician in the movie is clearly confined to that of the Long Island Music scene, a scene that would not facilitate the amount of stardom that Keatan’s character is shown to possess. Not only that, but the piano rock music of the barely known Cowboy Presidents seems like it would be more adapt to a small lounge or bar rather than a whole crowd of obsessed fans. The attitude of Keatan does not match his status as a musician. The supposed stage antics are barely seen, especially as actor Michael Derek just stands swaying back and forth on stage singing off key. The only stage antic that is seen is the kicking of a fan with a camera after a poorly edited camera flash goes off. No one with Keatan’s status should ever be able to compare himself to the likes of James Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, whose likenesses are seen a redundant amount of times throughout the movie. It is of course not Michael Derek’s (the actor who plays Keatan) fault. I really just think it is poor writing. In fact I feel bad for Derek, who’s acting career seems to be taking off.  It seems a shame that he would waste his time on something like this. The lines of dialogue written for Keatan, especially in the interview scenes, seem to just be pseudo-philosophical filler written to make the writers seem like suave intellectuals, when in fact it just comes off as pretentious banter from insecure narcissists.

I believe the perpetrator behind the majority of this movie would have to be writer, producer and assistant director Mike Natale. Natale is without a doubt the main culprit in the creation of this abomination, and his blatant narcissism is apparent in almost every facet of the movie. Aside from the main characters name being an anagram of his own, Mike Natale writes a story about a famous rock musician who is intelligent, philosophical, sensitive, seductive, cool and fights authority with his sultry and passionate rock lyrics. Keatan is the enigma that Natale wishes he could be. Natale, who is the lead singer and song writer of the band The Cowboy Presidents, enlists his own band and music in the film. Even though the music is good in many respects, you would think that a musician capable of writing such music would be capable of getting his actors to sing on key. Natale’s obvious wish to be a famous rock musician that the world can’t get enough of is evident in the story, as well as in the credits where he gives special thanks to every rock musician who inspired him. Among the many names are musicians who are more fashionable to respect and admire than not. Dark aviators, leather jackets and dog tags don’t make you cool and neither does pumping out clichés to makes yourself look educated in music history.

Natale is not the only ego driven member of the film’s creation. I feel as if every member of The Cowboy Presidents had a role in fueling the path of the movie in their own direction. Most of it seems like an elongated music video and it is clearly the work of the boastful group as a whole. In one case I noticed, the bass in the shots of the band playing were really loud, almost too loud to hear anything else. When watching the credits it appeared that the sound mixer for the movie was James Kleisler, who also happens to be the bass player of The Cowboy Presidents. It seems as if everyone had a stake to make in the promotion of their music.

Aside from all of the pretentious writing, obvious band plugging and sub par acting the movie did have some good strengths. Many of the shots were well planned and the settings were well thought out. However, this does not make the movie worth it at all. The only shadow play I saw was Mike Natale playing in the shadows of his idols. I have to say that I tried to be as objective as possible. For a student film this is a fine piece, but as a short film itself it is trash. Honestly, the characters and the story don’t serve a purpose and it is a waste of time. I give it a 2 out of 10 rating and hope that the next project by Mike Natale will be a little less self serving with a little more originality.

If you would like to see for yourself…

http://www.shadowplay-film.com/watch-the-film.html

“Although Imperial Army soldiers were heard to scream “To hell with Babe Ruth” in the jungles of the South Pacific, Ruth was still deemed to have a high enough standing with the Japanese that he was almost called upon to act as a peace negotiator in the fading months of the war.  A U.S. government plan called for the Babe to be flown to Guam to make a series of radio broadcasts to the people of Japan.  As Ruth put it, he was to appeal to their sporting instincts to give up, and to tell them what the U.S. had in store for them if they did not surrender.  In the end, however, the plan was scrapped as the U.S. high command opted for a more forceful approach—the A-bomb.” -Robert Whiting: “You Gotta Have Wa”.