Someone once said, “without the bad, there would be no good.” In Fabien Martorell‘s latest short film, “The Coin,” he illustrates a beautiful juxtaposition between darkness and the light of hope.
Kathryn Morris (Cold Case) portrays an indignant mother who radiates negativity onto her cherubic young son (Jack Ryan Shepherd). For no apparent reason, she scolds him from the car and into the bodega, where she orders him to sit and wait on the cold concrete floor. Alas, the boy is saved by the presence of a homeless man (Christopher Lloyd). He utters words of wisdom and hands the kid a “magical quarter.” Just the smile on Lloyd’s face says, “everything is going to be OK.”
The cinematography by Carlos Arguello is captivating. A constant glow is present throughout the film; perhaps representative of the guardian angel that is Lloyd’s character. While the opening hits you with a disturbing feeling, it closes with a comforting touch of reassurance. As we enter the season of Sundance and PSIFF, “The Coin” is a must see out of the short film entries.
The director, Martorell is an award-winning director from France is best known for the documentary, “Tromatized: Meet Lloyd Kaufman,” which won Best Biographical Documentary at the 2009 New York International Film Festival. Currently, he is shooting “The Guns Story” with Tracii Guns and in pre-production to direct the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk‘s (Fight Club) “Snuff.”
Pamela Price
