RATING: A

A KW Omni Media Production film in association with Washington Film and Company. Directed, lensed, and edited by Edwin F. Gonzalez. Produced by Sarah Coykendall, Delaney, and Edwin F. Gonzalez. Written by Delaney and Edwin F. Gonzalez.

Stars Delaney, Sarah Coykendall, Joseph Mason, Reggie D. White, Adrian Anchondo, Anthony Williams, and Stacz Sadowski. 

A down-and-out man must resort to crime to make ends meets and gets a suprise in this indie drama that veers sharply left in a shocking way. 

Dave Meeks has had some serious financial problems since losing his job. He lives in an apartment with Johnny and has had issues paying his share of the rent. As a result, he sells random items from the trunk of his car. If he doesn’t make his share, Johnny forces him to help him steal cars. However, one particular night is set to change things and their lives.

When Johnny and Dave come across a car, they discover someone in the trunk. Dave instantly recognizes the woman. She is Summer Hayes, the star of his favorite TV show, “The Quintessential American”. That is just the tip of the iceberg when Johnny and Dave get involved in dealing a street drug called “Fluoride”. Dave slowly goes on a downward spiral that soon results in learning that his favorite actress has an ulterior motive that is life-changing and life-threatening. 

Independent filmmaking is quite tricky at times. Sometimes, if you want to make a film and don’t have the resources, you go through your own means and this results in what is known as “guerrilla filmmaking”. This is when you shot scenes without permits and resort to using various cameras that are not actual film cameras because of the lack of resources. This film is proof of guerrilla-style filmmaking but what director/cinematographer/editor Edwin F. Gonzalez did was ingenious. On a budget of approximately $10,000, Gonzalez hacked a DSLR camera, one normally used for still photography, and used it as a fully fledged movie camera. 

The singularly named Delaney is great in the role of Dave, a businessman who lost his job and holds a business selling random items from his car. He clearly is a man struggling to make ends meet and it’s been hard. This results in his roommate Joe, a somewhat loose cannon, forcing Dave to join his operations of stealing cars and selling a drug called “fluoride” to make sure they have their rent money. Joseph Mason is perfectly cast as he does such a good job in the role of the hot-headed Joe, who is introduced when he beats the crap out of a buyer for not giving him his money while Dave honks the horn from outside. 

It is when the duo discovers TV actress Summer, played by Sarah Coykendall, that things go more insane, and this is only twenty minutes in. From there, it just gets more insane. From Dave forced to try the drug out to an incident that leads to a shootout to a very unexpected finale, the film as a whole is about the struggle of the American life and what these two must do to survive, even though they are at risk of losing it all. 

Medias Res is a great example of independent filmmaking and how to make a film with a micro budget about the struggle to survive through the eyes of two roommates. The cast is great, but it is how the film was achieved that makes it an important work in indie filmmaking. Definitely one to check out.