REVIEW: Peter Nichols | B+
Christina Masterson plays Harlow in Patrick Green & Steve Tirona’s TAG
Introduction
At the core of the short film TAG is “Guerrilla-Style ” filmmaking the actual premise behind independent filmmaking. And Patrick Green and Steven Tirona dos o well to warp the story up in Graffiti Art. I am certain there was no budget for production design, but the film was true to build a story world around key graffiti in Boyle Heights, which is a neighborhood of about a 100k people in LA.
Review
Yes! We loved TAG. As much as any indie film, it opened a new world of possibilities introducing filmmaking from a rare angle. It did give a harmony of all the elements in storytelling
We did think that it was thin on the idea of an artist trying to make a mark on the streets. Or maybe an explantion will be that we are not in touch with Graffiti Art, and its culture. It did however give us a pulsating ride and it starred a female lead, which we figured was remarkable and upto date with current day.
The drama for us came from the harmony between chase, the cinematography, the dialogue and the final revealing moments, when we see Harlow pull down the bandana to reveal Christina Masterson.
The editing was very interesting, it was refreshing and it reminded me of editing style of Edgar Wright in the “Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy”.
Conclusion
TAG is excitement at a pulsating pace, it is current and it is beautiful storytelling from a rare view.
Final Grade B+
