Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Rose McGowan's Dawn Short Film Review

Actress Rose McGowan is no stranger to genre films and television. She has appeared in many successful feature films that include Scream and the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaborative double feature Grindhouse. She also appeared on the long running TV series Charmed. Now Ms. McGowan has stepped behind the camera to deliver her directorial debut, Dawn, which was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival. The film is a 17 minute short that takes place in perhaps the mid to late 1950s or early 1960s and Stars Tara Barr, Reiley McClendon, Hannah Marks, Michael Moskewicz, Julia Sanford and John Grady. The film has a surreal quality to it with moments where things just happen and there is no real explanation as to why or how. This may turnoff those looking for a more tactile reason for what occurs in the film. The film is not original in that it equates budding sexuality with danger and metaphoric penetration with violence. What works well in the film is the casting. When the character of Dawn cries my heart felt broken for her. Indeed the entire film is carried by the combined strength of the cast as well McGowan's attention for detail and atmosphere. The film reminded me very much of the literary work of Raymond Carver and particularly of the Flannery O'Connor short story, A Good Man Is Hard To Find. As far as directorial debuts are concerned, Ms. McGowan shows promise and her film may yield multiple viewings for those looking for nuanced clues to support there own interpretation. Dawn will debut on June 21, 2015 only on YouTube. The official YouTube channel where one can view the trailer for Dawn available to view now at the link below.

http://youtu.be/-yT4Qk3vbfA

(C) Copyright 2015 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.