Film Al Fresco, The Galleries at Moore
Friday, July 12th, 2013, 8pm
By Nadia Hironaka
Bleach splattered denim fills the screen as the letter “R” is haphazardly sprayed out from an aerosol can. The sloppy, pink shape becomes even more muddled as a second coat of paint renders the “R” almost unrecognizable––but the gesture is clear and filled with affect.
Actor Rob Malone delivers angst, frustration and desperation with excellent comedic timing. Malone, aka Raptor, is going through some issues, apparent throughout his humorously failed attempts to nail down the film’s introductory music number.
What is most striking about this oddly witty rendition of the struggling twenty-something singer/songwriter trope is its energy and spirit. While Raptor may get caught up in show biz antics, filmmaker Marc Dickerson, does not. Focus is on the musical numbers, which resonate. One song about Raptor’s music agent, Mr. Heisman, performed by Nicole Acevedo and Rob Malone, is genuinely catchy.
Raptor, a short film written and directed by Marc Dickerson, is part of The Galleries at Moore’s Film Al Fresco series, showing on July 12th. This is the third of four outdoor screening events, taking place at Aviator Park, 20th St. and the Parkway.
Sharing the bill on July 12th are several exceptional works: Anastasia Owell’s playfully animated collaged hair drawings, OooAh Hair; Anthony Campuzano’s Forecast 1998/2013, a 16mm, stop-motion short, animating weather forecasts from newsprint; and Goodnight Fish, a dark comedy by Nick Boyer.
Since 2008 Nadia Hironaka has been working as an artistic collaborator with fellow artist Matthew Suib. Their collaborative projects have been exhibited in museums, galleries and film festivals worldwide. In 2013 they were awarded an artist residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts.