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Broken Broken is a mystery, a thriller and an action movie, but more than anything, it's like a slice out of a big-budget Hollywood flick. I say slice because Broken is actually a short, coming in at only 15 minutes long and cost a paltry $8,000 to make.
Most short films aspire to art and experimentation or are hamstrung by financial constraints, but Broken is really none of these things. It was designed from the ground up to be an action film, almost like a trailer for a movie that has yet to be made. Unlike a trailer, however, it has self-contained story arc and develops the characters as reasonably as can be expected in the time available. It's a stunning achievement.
The movie begins with Bonnie Clayton (Samantha Jane Polay) roused from an apparent nightmare and stumbling into her kitchen. There she's confronted by the mysterious Duncan (Paul Gordon), lurking in the shadows. She's knocked unconscious and wakes up gagged and tied to a wheelchair in a disused hospital basement.
The harmonica-obsessed Duncan, with a distinctive scar on his face, explains why she was abducted. It seems that she is some kind of secret operative (for whom it is not explained) and "the management" want her replaced. But the confused Bonnie has no recollection of who the hell Duncan is and just wants to go home. Nor does she recognise any of his colourful and bizarre entourage, which includes the sexy flame-haired assassin Marquez (Amber Crawford) and a handful of musclebound henchmen who look like they're itching to blow her apart. Duncan confirms our worst fears: "Everyone here, even the fellow wearing that ridiculous little hat, came here for a reason and one reason only: to kill you."
Meanwhile, a masked agent, armed to the teeth, stealthily creeps into the basement to save Bonnie, but it seems that Bonnie still has a couple of tricks up her sleeve...
With a movie this long there are bound to be problems. The thugs are underdeveloped and seem to be there simply as cannon fodder for the gun battle at the end. The plot feels truncated and begs to be extended and expanded, and there are curious touches—such as Bonnie's glowing eyes—that I would love to see explored. Put simply, there are too many ideas to be locked into a 15 minute running time. The good news is that The Enigma Factory, the production company behind Broken are in talks with several interested parties about financing a full length version of the film. At the end of the short, there's a knowing look to the camera by one of the characters which I'm not convinced belongs in the film because it's a little too long and obvious. Aside from that it's all gravy.
The film represents a new benchmark in self-financed movies. While Star Wars fan films have often excelled in the visual effects department, they've sometimes been let down by hokey acting or leaden editing. But Broken excels in just about every department. It exudes quality and high production values that simply belie its budget and must be a torchbearer for the new revolution in digital film-making. A quick mental calculation would seem to imply that a two hour movie could be made for as little as $64,000, which doesn't even cover the hairdressers' trailer on some Hollywood productions.
The website is worth checking out for some great visual effects features from Sean Falcon, like the extras you find on DVDs. There are also storyboards, galleries, posters and interviews with the writer/director Alex Ferrari and writer/producer Jorge Flores Rodriguez. It's a pretty attractive package for an intriguing thriller that's the movie equivalent of strapping yourself to rocket and lighting the fuse.
Read our interview with Director Alex Ferrari, Producer Jorge Rodriguez and visual effects supervisor Sean Falcon here
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