Michael Haberfelner of searchmytrash.com reviews Tonia Carrier’s “Bailiwick”

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Bailiwick

USA 2017
produced by
Nicholas Joseph Mackey (executive), Tonia L. Carrier (executive) for Pinkie’s Kid Productions
directed by Tonia L. Carrier
starring Dan Gerics, Nicholas Joseph Mackey, Kirstin Vanhooser, Roni Jonah, Tonia L. Carrier, Skylar Sprague, Hector Reyes, Cyndi Moore, Suzy Brack, Ricardo Islas, Tim Krueger, Bobbie O’Connor, Rick Carver, David Sotomayor, Ella Zielinski, Cale Zielinski, Sarah Binder, Brian Byrd, Kathleen Lawlor, Kristina Lakey, Jerry Bradshaw, Jennifer Rebecca, Emliee Buckmaster, Ashley B. White, Rob Bash, Robin Devereaux-Nelson, Lindsey Williams, Todd Stevenson, James Eric Nelson, Laurie Middlebrook, Jeff Schrems, Ava Mendoza, David Waldman, Philip James Horen, Joshua Grunow, Dave Austin, Ben Hendricks, Jacob Lounsbury
written by Tonia L. Carrier, Roni Jonah, Amy Austin, Cyndi Moore, songs by Jeff Schrems, Christopher Lewis, Play to the Gallery, Laurie Middlebrook, Cascader, Darren Curtis, Cash O’Riley, Keensonic, The Scarring Party, MYUU, Kris Pride Helm, Matia Capelli

review by
Mike Haberfelner

John (Dan Gerics) is nothing but a little wheel in a big corporation, constantly harrassed by his boss Kyle (Nicholas Joseph Mackey), who just likes this kind of powerplay, and who also forces the co-worker Emily (Kirstin Vanhooser) who John’s secretly in love with to do him some sexual favours – everybody knows about this, but nobody says anything out of fear of getting fired. So basically, John’s life is hell … and then, one night, on a whim, he visits a backstreets circus, and the magician of the show (Rick Carver) hands him his book of magic tricks and tells him he has to learn the tricks in the book in sequence to reach ultimate power … which John does, mostly probably because he has nothing better to do, and the first thing he notices is that his colleagues who have formerly shunned him are quite taken by his magic tricks, and soon he’s accepted as one of them and they take him with them for after hours partying. But the more he becomes part of the system, the more Kyle despises John.

In the meantime, John has gotten ahead just a bit in the magic book, and has made it to a secret chapter that tells him how to “influence” people to do certain things – like killing his boss. But these are of course powers that aren’t to be harnassed just like that, and that shouldn’t be left unchecked as well to avoid grand scale disaster …

Basically, Bailiwick is a film for the little man wanting revenge on the society that spurned him – and it does achieve that very well by telling a story that’s ripe with satire, that digs into its characters, and where the fantasy elements are more of a catalyst than the center of the story. And all this is brought to life by a really clever script, a subtle direction and strong performances … and of course a deliciously dark sense of humour!

 

There’s No Such Thing as Zombies – https://www.facebook.com/theresnosuchthingaszombies
IMDb – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4905288/reference
(re)Search my Trash – http://www.searchmytrash.com
Bauliche Angelegenheiten – http://www.lulu.com/shop/michael-haberfelner/bauliche-angelegenheiten/paperback/product-20528546.html

 

 

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