{"id":1548,"date":"2011-06-14T05:14:16","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T12:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2011-06-14T05:14:16","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T12:14:16","slug":"review-the-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=1548","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE PILL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Fred has a one-night stand. A cheat, really, while his girlfriend, Nelly, is out of town. He wakes the next morning in the bed of Mindy, and he\u2019s just not okay with it.<\/p>\n

Writer\/director J. C. Khoury\u2019s debut feature, \u201cThe Pill,\u201d is the model of independent efficiency. After watching the film, I had occasion to teach my daughter the meaning of the word efficiency and I use it here as a compliment. There are no wasted parts. \u201cThe Pill\u201d is a minimalistic story that\u2019s better than it ought to be. It\u2019s the kind of film that should be on the IFC Spirit Award short list, but not because it always works, but because it leaves you with the right questions.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Pill,\u201d Fred\u2019s one-night stand is a starting point for a meandering story of one man\u2019s voyage of discovery that is ever-present in cinema. At times, the film feels much like Scorcese\u2019s \u201cAfter Hours.\u201d Fred is a character that like Paul Hackett in \u201cHours\u201d should leave Mindy squalid apartment with no questions, but wants to stay for all the wrong reasons. He\u2019s curious, sure, but also empty and in need of something different in his life. When Mindy mounts Fred in the middle of night, he\u2019s already removed the condom he applied earlier in the evening prior to Mindy passing out. He\u2019s drunk, like Mindy, and in that brief moment throws caution to the winds. But in the morning, guilt nips at him. Is Mindy on the pill?<\/p>\n

It turns out that she\u2019s not. And strangely she\u2019s okay with it. Fred, whose girlfriend is coming back in town, begins to panic. But there\u2019s no problem, they can do the morning after thing, right? Awkwardly, Fred coaxes Mindy to a nearby pharmacy. Just one pill should be enough. But when the pharmacist informs them that two pills will be necessary, Fred has a problem. He\u2019s got to stay with Mindy the rest of the day to make sure this cavalier gal follows through. Well, he doesn\u2019t really have to stay, but Fred\u2019s the kind of neurotic guy who always follows through, even to his detriment.<\/p>\n

In time, Fred\u2019s in it knee-deep. He meets loony old boyfriends, and even Mindy\u2019s odd family (something that is straight from a John Irving novel). Mindy\u2019s complicated, the kind of woman that Fred, an aspiring novelist, might find useful as a kind of crooked muse. But the utilitarian nature of the adventure begins to give way to infatuation. Maybe Mindy is right for him. Maybe not.<\/p>\n

Shot on the Canon 5D Mark II, \u201cThe Pill\u201d should inspire young filmmakers to find the right cast and have at it. The look is perfect for the material. It wasn\u2019t until a firmware upgrade permitted the use of this camera for digital cinema. Since then filmmakers have favored its 21.1-megapixel full frame sensor. And \u201cThe Pill\u201d is a good example of how to use this now $2,500.00 marvel. Sure, we\u2019ve seen the 5D on TV with episodes of \u201cHouse.\u201d But here, a film that would have once been shot with a Panasonic HVX200 and a lens adapter (and a lot of lights) looks like it was shot on film. And because of that, \u201cThe Pill\u201d has a real chance of a limited theatrical run.<\/p>\n

Khoury\u2019s scant story, no doubt entirely scripted but with a cin\u00e9ma v\u00e9rit\u00e9 flavor, benefits greatly from a talented and sharp cast led by Noah Bean as Fred. Bean reminds me of Adam Scott and could probably have quite a career, especially if he hitches his cart to little films like this that give him so much to do. As Fred, Bean\u2019s able to work with guilt in a very modern setting but with a timeless situation. He\u2019s a pleasant looking fellow, but his Fred is a bit hapless and plays things a little too safe. That is until he meets Mindy. And Mindy, played by Rachel Boston is a true free spirit, but in desperate need of grounding. She\u2019s damaged and we don\u2019t know why, but like Fred, we want to know all the answers.<\/p>\n

Not a perfect film, \u201cThe Pill\u201d might annoy some viewers with a story that goes around and around showcasing bad decision-making. But Khoury is in on the experiment, his screenplay even gives once \u201cMy Girl\u201d star Anna Chlumsky a chance to show us a more mature side without getting too tawdry. Chlumsky needs a better vehicle for her talent, but as the jilted and superficial girlfriend Nelly, she\u2019s spot on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pill\u201d is a dose worth taking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan feeds his addiction with a dose of indie…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}