Rounding First
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C-
I love
independent productions, especially when they go out of their way to shoot on
film and get something going. Jim
Fleigner’s Rounding First (2005) is
set in 1980 and centers on three friends who are pre-teen boys and are just
trying to enjoy life. Of course, things
get complicated off the bat when one of the boys is dreaming of his older
brother begin shot to death after a surprise reunion.
It is
interesting to watch any film where kids could still enjoy their youth before a
new crudeness and increasingly endless technical options in home entertainment
and associated technologies started crowding out imagination and peace of
mind. However, while the three young
actors (Matt Borish, Soren Fulton and Sam Semenza) give usually good
performances, the adults are not as well directed and then Fleigner’s
screenplay has all kinds of issues that strain suspension of disbelief by the
middle and collapse soon after.
Suddenly,
there is real gunfire, robberies, abductions, family violence, kids acting
dumber than they should and even one piece of sex slang that was not as popular
in 1980 shows up. Shot in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, immortalized in the hit Billy Joel song (not featured here,
since the song was made a few years later and the town was only beginning to be
hard hit) a few years later, it makes the city and surrounds areas look good
and that keep the film from being a bomb.
However, most of this implodes into unbelievability that you have to see
to believe.
The
letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image was shot on 16mm film, maybe Super 16mm, by
cinematographer Bradley Traver and it has decent color. However, they could not afford the best
transfer for this indie release and the detail limits are unfortunate. In real life, this would be even more
impressive on film or in HD. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 sound is simple stereo and has no surrounds, but is not a bad
recording.
Extras
include director’s commentary, stills, press interviews, behind the scenes
featurette and three deleted scenes.
That is even more interesting than the film, which was an ambitious
project that got made, even if it did not ultimately work or missed some vital
details about growing up in 1980.
- Nicholas Sheffo
