Another Hole in the Head Film Fest Review: The Man with the Silver Case
By: Joseph Perry
Writer/director Colin Best delivers a gripping debut feature with The Man with the Silver Case, a man-on-the-run thriller with film noir elements and style galore. This American production was shot entirely in Switzerland, chiefly in the Lauterbrunnen area. Gorgeously lensed in black-and-white by noted cinematographer Jay Keitel (Phoenix Forgotten [2017]; Bad Milo [2013]), the remote snowy surroundings in which most of the movie is set makes a perfect backdrop for the intrigue at play in the story.
Stuart Reid stars as Man in Gray, the titular character who is handcuffed to a case as part of a deadly job. He is the no-nonsense type, determined to finish the task of delivering the case to a shadowy organization while battling drug and alcohol dependency. When he attempts to hide in a cabin in a forested area, he accidentally crosses paths with a family whose members are all interested in him, but for different reasons.
With assassins constantly on Man in Gray’s tail, it is obvious that something highly prized and important is in the case, but our stoic antihero never seems curious about its contents. Danger lurks persistently around the trees and building corners, and not always from the men in black sent to kill Man in Gray.
The Man with the Silver Case recalls the earthiness and excitement of such French New wave crime dramas as Francois Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Jean Pierre Melville’s Bob le flambeur (1956) and Le Samourai (1967), combined with elements of classic hardboiled cinema, 1970s film antiheroes, and secret agent/spy movies. Reid is terrific as Man in Gray, a person of few words but plenty of thought and action, and one who treads the fine line between nihilist and realist. His character embodies elements of cinematic forerunners hardboiled detectives, classic secret agents and spies, and 1970s antiheroes. The supporting cast, including Tom Ohmer (Circle of 8 and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra [both 2009]; The Dark Knight Rises [2012]) as the family father and Lara Marian (Let the Old Folks Die [2017]) as the mother, is great, as well. The soundtrack boasts an eclectic and wonderfully fitting score, with jazz from Sonny Rollins, postpunk/new wave from the early years of The Cure, and original music by Best performed by Academy of Chess and Checkers, as examples. Keitel gets the most out of every one of his shots, from those of breathtaking landscapes to close-ups of gruesome demises.
Best directs superbly, showing a keen eye for action and suspense sequences, and a strong hand for character development and storytelling. The Man with the Silver Case is a fine calling card for Best, and I would be thrilled to see more adventures of the Man in Gray character that he has created.
The Man with the Silver Case screened at Another Hole in the Head Film Fest, which runs December 1st –15th at New People Cinema in San Francisco.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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