Small films shot in small towns with small simple stories rarely ever happen any more. The age of the green screened shot, auto tuned written cash cow film production is here and nobody wants to see a real Paul Newman heave around a bad leg and a grandson in a small town in upstate New York anymore.
I am from a small town and during my days in Los Angeles, most of my scripts were based on small town stories. Back then, we had Samuel Goldwyn and Miramax making great small budget simple films like some of the ones from my early twenties:
- Beautiful Girls
- Nobody’s Fool
- Good Will Hunting
- Copland
- Rushmore
- A Simple Story
- Slingblade
The list goes on and on IN THOSE DAYS.
These days it is all super heroes, star wars and an occasional romantic comedy that is based out of a Los Angeles suburb or Atlanta.
Until yesterday they were non existent TO ME anyway. Leave it to Lee to uncover this New England gem, “All Square.” After looking at the poster I watched it immediately.
This spec script written by Timothy Brady is so tight there are times I forget I’m watching a movie. Michael Kelly and Josh Lucas are fantastically directed by Timothy Brady. The support cast of Jesse Ray Sheps and Isiah Whitlock Jr add the finishing touches to simple minor masterpiece of a story about a down on his luck bookie who causes chaos in the community when he starts taking bets on the youth league baseball league to recoup all his losses.
