Search - Still Life on DVD

With Little Talent, Very Little Is Accomplished.

rsoonsa | Lake Isabella, California | 08/07/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Filmed in a Toronto that is meant to depict New York City, this carelessly produced low-budget piece is loosely organized from its beginning, with most of its shortcomings stemming from a scenario concerning a serial killer operating in a rundown artist's loft district, the victims being indigents who, after being shot in the head, are ensconced within oversized picture frames and arranged as pastiches of popular paintings, e.g., Whistler's Mother, with an accompanying "A.K." (Art Killer) signature. A painfully untalented musician, Peter Sherwood (Jason Gedrick), whose uninventive electronic ability with keyboard and sampler fails to bring him fiscal success, his live-in girlfriend Nellie (Jessica Steen), and their performing artist pal Teddy (Stephen Shellen) reside within the stricken area amid the homicide hullabaloo, with Nellie a New York television journalist reporting upon the slayings as they occur. A trifling attempt is made to depict how the killer has become a "popular" figure with fringe members of the citizenry, and Nellie and Teddy each enjoys benefits from publicity, but when Peter is assaulted by a pair of non-lethal "A.K." copycats and subsequently attached to a frame in a junkyard, this particular media event has come too near the trio for their comfort. Additionally, local police, essentially it would seem limited in number to one rather seedy detective, have begun to suspect Sherwood of being "A.K." as some type of disturbed ploy with which to further his stuttering music career, and personal forms of danger increase for Peter and his kidnapped lover. With a working title of ART KILLER FRAMED wisely changed, this film, despite its macabre theme and trappings of violence, lacks that important ingredient of suspense, critical to all genres, since even a semi-comatose viewer will have solved the case in short order, and no character as portrayed will gain audience sympathy. Direction is flaccid, particularly noticeable when players are forced to weakly ad lib, and post-production efforts fail to correct flaws, notably relative to the generally poorly written dialogue and other sound issues, and the unimpressive actors obviously lack oversight; requisite attention to planning plainly was not available for this work."