Jon Saks writes a cult underground BINGE

BINGE 104. Twenty on the Twelve

Available on vimeo  36 minutes.

Directed and photographed by Ryan Cavataro

Written by Jon Saks

"BINGE 104. Twenty on the Twelve:" a cult classic is born.

NO fooling around this is a straight ahead plunge into a deck of problems, including: finding yourself, getting straight, producing a film, producing a play, writing a script, and casting actors.

Writer Saks and Director Cavataro manages to do a great job. Getting a clear and coherent performance from actors in a story about a group of people who are not living clear nor coherent lives.

The writing and the directing bring out the contradictions in the characters and the complications of their lives (always suggesting more than we see and leaving us to fill in the blanks).

Jon Saks is not a pop writer. He doesn’t write for everybody, but the people who like his work like it a lot. He has an off-beat vision and both the technical skill as a scribe to write that vision, and insights into the human heart that always seem to catch us by surprise.

The line producer (or producers) who managed to get the people and equipment to those locations deserves a round of applause

The uses of various parks in the NYC area brings character to the performances. I think we see Bryant Park and Union Square Park among the many locations.

In scenes shot against a large window it is always hard to get the right contrast but Cavataro managed it with great skill. Sometimes the over the shoulder shot or the two-shot from the side had a nose peeking into the frame. But the hand held camera gives us a sense of immediacy and raw reality.

I am not sure which actors were in which scene. (An insert of the actors face during the credit roll would help.)

The editing was clear and helped tell the story. The camera work is very good. The audio sometimes had a little problem with volume balance from scene to scene and sometimes the mic was just a bit too far away from the speaker. The piece holds our attention and deserves a larger audience.

And by the way I love the title.