Pablo D'Stair's back with a new brain-teaser/ twister, DOCTOR LAWYER INDIAN CHIEF

Pablo D'Stair has returned. Yes: That mystery man (is the photo below even him? I can't be absolutely sure) whose movie, A Public Ransom, we covered a few months back has made a new film -- DOCTOR LAWYER INDIAN CHIEF -- that we agreed to watch and that, like his earlier movie, drove us right up the fucking wall.

Now, a few days after viewing it, I'm still remembering it and sort of brooding over it but wondering why. Really, it's not very good (I'll explain the reasons I feel this way, below). And yet...

What happens in the film -- betrayal, jealousy, murder, or maybe none of the above -- ought to be major. But the would-be realistic but actually tiresomely unbelievable dialog, the hugely repetitive filmic style (a stationery camera that is periodically moved to capture different angles), and especially the characters, who seem to have but a nodding acquaintance with any kind of reality and/or sensible interaction with the other folk we see in the film -- all of this makes the movie utterly minor and very difficult to sit through.

Has Mr. D'Stair somehow hypnotized me into giving him and his movie more credit than they deserve? Ought I to just give up this whole "reviewing" thing and disappear into the night? Hmmm... Enough brooding. What you can expect if and when you sit down to watch this film -- which can be streamed on Vimeo for free, I believe (I did, and didn't even have to use he password I was given) -- is a tale of a middle-aged schlub of a man (Carlyle Edwards from A Public Ransom) who tells his wife (or maybe she's just a girlfriend) that he has been accosted by a fellow at his work who has told him that he was married to her at one time.

"Don't know anything about this," the woman claims, and we're off on a binge of lies and infidelity and all kinds of bizarre stuff -- all communicated to us via conversations between Mr. Edwards and the rest of the cast. As either written or improvised (maybe a combo), these scenes, which are always led by Edwards' brand of stop-and-start awkwardness and inability to say something straight out via a speech pattern that is singular, to say the least, could drive one to distraction.

Whether this is all the actor is able to manage or it is what the filmmaker wants, I haven't a clue. Perhaps it is a combination of both. In any case, due to Edwards' huffing and puffing and his inability to move the dialog along speedily, the purpose here would seem to be to give us scenes that, in the real world, might add up to all of 15 minutes, but here must be stretched out to an hour's length. This is not fun; instead it acts as a kind of filmic torture.

I wonder what D'Stair imagines that he is giving us. It is certainly not art, but neither is it "life" as anyone in my world, at least, would recognize it. At one point in the proceedings, one person says to another. "You're right. It doesn't matter." And this could stand for the whole shebang.  It is difficult to know what matters in the world of Pablo D'Stair.

And yet. (God, I have all these "and yets"...) The cinematography (by Paul Vanbrocklin, who also did A Public Ransom) is often exquisite in its grainy, weirdly-lighted way. These two movies do not look like anyone else's. Oh, yes -- and everybody smokes.

The two leading supporting actors -- Helen Bonaparte and Goodloe Byron, both from A Public Ransom -- are not bad. And the minor supporting players are OK, too. But everything takes too long to unfold -- including the title card that reads "Three Weeks Later" and which seems to stay on-screen for approximately that length of time. Really, Pablo: These are three short words. How long do you imagine it will take us to read them? (Again, this adds to my suspicions that D'Stair is simply trying to lengthen his movie by adding excess time to everything.)

Yet, in his way, D'Stair does tackle relationships and honesty, betrayal and retribution. By asking him to be a more conventional filmmaker, might I be castrating his creativity. Don't know. But he's working on a third film now. We shall see. (If, that is, we can stand all the repetition and attenuation. But maybe the guy will alter his style a bit.)

Oh, yes -- and the end-title song, Don't Fuck With Love, proves pretty damn catchy. You can view Doctor Lawyer Indian Chief now by clicking on  this Vimeo Link. Good luck!

Pablo D'Stair's try at a thriller A PUBLIC RANSOM streams free via Vimeo -- if you're interested....

Just about anybody can make a movie these days, it seems (just like anybody, ahem, can start a blog reviewing those movies), but whether the film in question is worth spending time on is another matter. TrustMovies learned about A PUBLIC RANSOM, a black-and-white, 100-minute film from a fellow named Pablo D'Stair, via a compatriot of mine who knows I'll take a chance on a lot of different kinds of films, from folk both known & unknown--& hope for the best.

The best is nowhere to be found here, though there are a few worthwhile things to say about this movie. Mr. D'Stair, whom I believe is shown at right, does have a way with words. His characters never stop babbling, and some of what they say is quick and fun and even sometimes clever. But after only a bit, it begins to be way too much too often. This is particularly true of the filmmaker's leading character, a guy named Steven (played by Carlyle Edwards, shown below and further below) who simply never shuts up. Mr. Edwards seems a pretty good actor, however, and he certainly finds the way in which to deal with D'Stair's over-bearing/over-active dialog. He clearly understands what he & his writer are saying, and so he simply lets it all hang out.

Unfortunately much of that dialog is spoken while Steven is on his cell phone (this film may be make you wish the things had never been invented). This becomes near-laughable as the movie moves along. "Again?!" you ask yourself, annoyed, as scene after scene seems to involve that phucking phone.  (Certain characters Steven speaks to never show up in the flesh. This is fine for a mini-budget but hard on the few performers we actually do see.)

The plot of this would-be thriller is so utterly unbelievable as to make you fear for D'Stair's grasp on reality. His film technique -- said to be a kind of homage to folk like Fassbinder, Bresson, Jarmusch and Akerman, which involves setting the stationary camera in a stable position (not always such an interesting position) and letting his cast (basically three performers) "act" in front of it -- is not much better. Everything is kept at middle- or long-distance. It seems ages before we ever get a close-up to see what our lead character actually looks like.

The other two characters are Steven's best friend, Rene (Helen Bonaparte, above, left), who has an equally fine understanding of this weird dialog thing. Put the two of them together and you get sparks of a sort. But still not much believability.

Even less of that is provided by the third character, Bryant (Goodloe Byron, above, left), a fellow Steven meets by calling the phone number on a homemade "missing child" poster that looks to have been made by the child herself. As the plot thickens into a tale of writers and storytelling, kidnapping, the ransom of the title, murder and maybe suicide, any remote credibility flies out the window. (None of the actors seem to register on the IMDB, nor does the film itself, so perhaps this is a low-profile first-time-out for everyone.)

The reason to keep watching is more to see how bad the movie becomes rather than learning the usual what's-going-to-happen? At times, other better movies may come to mind (Strangers on a Train, for one), and the film is full of movie posters that grab our gaze. But because the film's premise (Steven's involvement in this whole crazy thing) is so lacking in motive and justification (except to prove that his guy is a soulless, narcissistic piece of crap. So, new?) that D'Stair simply gives us no place to go and no reason to go there.

The film is also repetitive and tiresome visually. At least ten, maybe twenty, minutes could have been cut with no appreciable loss to content or understanding. This may be D'Stair's first feature (his only credit on IMDB that I can find is as associate producer on The Canyons), so his work to come may prove better.

For now, anyone interested in viewing A Public Ransom can do so by clicking here, and then going to the Vimeo link, along with the password, that the filmmaker has embedded in his text. Enjoy! Or not.

SPECIAL NOTE: This film is now part of a contest in which you

can view a bunch of new movies and then vote for your favorites

(you must vote for at least three films for your vote to be counted).

Here's the link to the contest and especially to D'Stair's film.

Pablo D'Stair is back -- again -- this time with a genuine charmer titled M.r PICKPOCKET

Few things give TrustMovies more pleasure than, after disliking a filmmaker's movies one upon another, suddenly along comes a film that he loves. Finally, after covering two earlier movies by Pablo D'Stair (you can read those reviews here), I've found a film of this writer/director that seems to me a lovely, creative, charming and original work.

Titled M.r PICKPOCKET (and, yes, that misplaced punctuation is deliberate), this 55-minute movie tells the tale of two very young brothers determined to create a successful comic-book franchise based on their notion that their dad moonlights as a pickpocket on his off hours.

Unlike the two earlier films I've viewed via Mr. D'Stair (shown at left), this one is relatively short and very sweet. Because it features in the leading (and only) roles, D'Stair's two young sons, Lucien and Sebastien, you would be on the mark in calling it a family affair. Even better, the two kids are simply terrific in their roles, each one capturing a distinct character, along with that character's quirks, desires and attitude -- no small accomplishment for actors this young. The kids claim, in the film at least, to be "nearly" seven (Lucian) and nine (Sebastien).

What makes the movie work particularly well is D'Stair's clever dialog (get ready: It's often pretty profane), which posits that these two youngsters know so much about comic books -- their creation, distribution and marketing -- that they can somehow manage all this on their own. Much of the charm and humor arrives via this adult-level dialog coming out of the mouths of the kids -- and yet it is handled so well that it seems much more than mere stunt.

The two kids (that's Lucien, above, and Sebastien, below) seem to understand surprisingly well what they are saying, along with the feelings -- jealousy, paranoia, anger, frustration, hope and all the rest -- that lie behind the words. This is something that even a big-budget, kids-playing-adults movie like Bugsy Malone couldn't manage nearly as well. Those kids too often were "acting."  These two are more often "behaving."

The world of comic books is created skillfully, too. TrustMovies must admit he quit reading comics at a young age, and so no longer knows that much about this world (nor cares a hoot for something like Comic-Con). Yet listening to these kids ramble on, there seems to exist a lot of similarities here to the world of the fine art establishment, film-making and various other creative endeavors. It's like hearing folk from any of these fields talk about their life, work and art. So even if you are one of the comic-book-challenged, there will be plenty here to keep you interested.

Visually, too, the filmmaker is trying a few new tricks (thank god): He's using color now, and his camera even moves some. The constant, back-and-forth shots from one kid to the other do grow a bit tiresome, yet the filmmaker changes his angles and POV often enough to make things bounce and snap.

D'Stair has divided M.r Pickpocket into chapters with headings using a line of dialog devoted to a subject or theme under discussion. He has also divided the film by using audio from various sources: a Bob Dylan interview and scenes from an old film and TV series. There is undoubtedly a reason for this but I couldn't fathom it. And these "audios" do make the movie a bit longer than is needed. Still, this is only a mild distraction from the real meat here -- which is the nifty and constant dialog between the two brothers.

I liked M.r Pickpocket enough to watch it a second time and, given my tight viewing schedule, I think that's high praise. I hope the film garners D'Stair a lot more viewership. You can watch it free via Vimeo by clicking here for the full film (the password is said to be mrpickpocket, but I didn't seem to need it) or here to see the "teaser" credits trailer. You can also view the film via Amazon Digital here (Prime members can watch for free) or purchase it (on DVD) here.

Note: Because I wanted to catch all of the very funny and often incisive dialog, I turned on Vimeo's Closed Captioning option -- which worked great for maybe two-thirds of the film, and then suddenly ceased. But I'm told Vimeo is working on this. (Amazon gives you the English subtitles, too, and they work just fine.)