Dirty Habit (Dir. Bryan Root - CA - 81 min.) I was intrigued by the premise of trapping a nun and a prostitute in a stuck elevator. That was only the tip of a mind-tripping iceberg! This is one hell of a psychological thriller! As it began, I felt this was no more than a filmed play. However, as the film opens up into the psyches of the two characters, it explored cinematic depths that took me completely by surprise.
That said, it is not an easy ride, as far as keeping oneself with the plot. The apparent contradictions and discontinuities can be overly distracting. However, they do resolve themselves with the climax. The performances by Kirsty Hinchcliffe (the prostitute) and particularly Reagan Dale Neis as the nun, are appropriately complicated and harrowingly in tune with the ever evolving script. Reagan Dale Neis has an uncanny resemblance to Sally Field during her Flying Nun years, which I presume was intentional.
Bryan Root's direction of the two women throughout his complicated script is flawless. As for the production elements, the cinematography by Goran Pavicevic handles the 'lifeboat syndrome' with amazing aplomb. And when the story breaks out into the characters' past, he and production designer Richard B. Lewis create even creepier settings outside of the elevator. The sound design and score is so subliminal as to be forgotten. Oh! And I forgot to mention the talking handbag... hee hee hee...
2007 Altlanta Underground Film Festival
by Jay Blodgett