Review: Ryan Pulls a Sherlock on Cleo in Daniel J. Brant's 'Dead Meet'

REVIEW: Peter Nichols | B

Francesca Louise White plays Cleo in Daniel J. Brant’s Dead Meet (2016)

A female assassin (Cleo), who is quite excellent at doing her job attempts to combine her odd line of work with a normal life, so she goes on a date, and coincidentally Charlie (Not the Charlie in Charlie’s Angels, although they operate the same “Mentor” archetype), fixes a job for Cleo at the venue of her date. We have us a Dead Meet.

Ryan (Reuben Williams) is a dangerous man. His response “What are you doing Monday” to Cleo’s “say something, Ryan” blew me away like a Benedict Cumberbatch-Sherlock Holmes rhetoric and needless to say was an excellent way to end the short film. I loved the motion graphics that followed, it felt very MARVEL like.

I do wonder if ‘Dead Meet‘ may refer to the aftermath of Cleo and Ryan’s relationship or the dead guy (Dean Williams) in the toilet (although he most likely should be tagged ‘Dead Meat’) or the clash of Cleo’s personal life (her date with Ryan) and her job as an assassin on date-day.

Watch Daniel J. Brant’s DEAD MEET Online

Juggling both may prove to be a Dead Meet or a cross road for Cleo (Francesca Louise White), who seems unruffled, then I wonder has she done this before. Maybe she can hold a job and a relationship together, at least she has no secrets anymore.

We did like how the opposites scenes played out before the shooting-climax, and the contrast of score added a fresh layer of wit and intrigue to the short. I’ll give great credit to the edit, you shot more that 20 minutes of short film. Are you guys sure you can cut this into a 40 minutes film? And maybe ship it to indieflix as a feature. Great contitnuity though, you didn’t miss a beat.

In conclusion, great story, good progression and nice reveal. I do think you should not resist the temptation to cut a shorter 9-10 minute version just for kicks, you may find people wanting it more.