★★★★
Starring: #JacobRenouf, #EvanEmanuel, #RachelScott, #JamieMarsh, #MattDavis
Directed by: #JamieMarsh
Short Film Review by: Alexandra James
A short film following eccentric detective Ebeneezer Maisonette and his associate Percival Farley. A new case has fallen on their lap and its up to them to recover a stolen ruby and save the day. Unfortunately, they are not your typical detectives and some of their ways can be considered a little unusual to say the least. As the case progresses, things are not all as they seem and with twists and turns thrown into the mix, it made our genius detective question everything.
Ebeneezer Maisonette is not your conventional detective, he has no filter and a fascinating style, from the crazy moustache to the magnified glasses, however, despite his unusual presence, he has a passion for solving crime and a keen eye for detail. This is a similar attribute to this short film, the details included from the costumes to the locations. It can be difficult with a small budget to be able find a location suitable, especially when filming a period film. This is set around the early 1900’s, so it can be tough to scout spaces and areas that are able to reflect this timeframe, considering this is a low budget film, it was great to see how they worked around this barrier and made it work, using areas with cobbled streets or cathedrals and old churches to set the scene.
Each character is witty, interesting and adds a certain flare to the story. Although the central story is around a crime, the story itself is funny and light-hearted. Director Jamie Marsh has created a good balance between comedic scenes but also clever and humorous dialogue. A way to improve this further would be the editing, there were some scenes that did not have a smooth transition compared to others, however, a majority was good quality and included some great artistic techniques and Marsh was able to add his own stamp and style to this film.
An incredibly entertaining short film with great comical characters, it would be great to see other episodes of this and discover new adventures for Ebeneezer Maisonette and his associate to go on, as well to really explore the characters and establish a Marsh’s style of filmmaking.