Don't let the movie poster fool you into thinking that S.O.L. is another teen suicide. Far from it! It's a romantic comedy/coming-of-age type story for older boys who don't live at home anymore. Written, directed and produced by Yuri Machado and Authentic Productions, S.O.L. tells the tale of Victor, a twenty-something guy, who is shy with girls and finally realizes that internet porn is no replacement for a relationship with a real woman. This is an important message! Get off the internet and go have a real life experience. (So says Jean who is sitting at the computer typing and uploading to her website.) Victor then ventures out into the world to conquer his fear of women.
Victor's objectification of women on the internet, with his buddies, and in his fantasies is mostly forgivable when we learn through voice over narration and flashbacks (filmed in black and white) that Victor has had uncomfortable past experiences with women and as a result has avoided close female relationships. The film tries to be uniquely gross with implied masturbation and males peeing, but I've seen a lot of that in film. Being female, I was initially turned off seeing how women are viewed by men in the bar scene. But giving the film a chance gave me an insight into the world of the shy guy.
The acting in general was very good. Nathan O. Miller's performance as Victor was excellent; and so was Sam Wood's portrayal of Mike, the hen-pecked buddy who actually gets beaten up by his girl friend. It's unusual to see women physically abusing men. Even though it was kind of funny in the film, in real life, it's not funny at all. But this element of the story added to the film's theme, fear of women.
The camera work was just about completely awesome for this low budget short filmed entirely in Tucson, AZ. Downtown Tucson looked very hip and stylish. Kudos to Cooper James Christensen and David Icely for the exceptionally stylish cinematography and kudos to Daniel Geffre and Machado for a great editing job.
The S.O.L. DVD includes the "making of" documentary by Julio Rodriguez. It has excellent production values and is worth a look. I can tell from this short that Machado has a lot of potential and a great film career ahead of him.
Victor's objectification of women on the internet, with his buddies, and in his fantasies is mostly forgivable when we learn through voice over narration and flashbacks (filmed in black and white) that Victor has had uncomfortable past experiences with women and as a result has avoided close female relationships. The film tries to be uniquely gross with implied masturbation and males peeing, but I've seen a lot of that in film. Being female, I was initially turned off seeing how women are viewed by men in the bar scene. But giving the film a chance gave me an insight into the world of the shy guy.
The acting in general was very good. Nathan O. Miller's performance as Victor was excellent; and so was Sam Wood's portrayal of Mike, the hen-pecked buddy who actually gets beaten up by his girl friend. It's unusual to see women physically abusing men. Even though it was kind of funny in the film, in real life, it's not funny at all. But this element of the story added to the film's theme, fear of women.
The camera work was just about completely awesome for this low budget short filmed entirely in Tucson, AZ. Downtown Tucson looked very hip and stylish. Kudos to Cooper James Christensen and David Icely for the exceptionally stylish cinematography and kudos to Daniel Geffre and Machado for a great editing job.
The S.O.L. DVD includes the "making of" documentary by Julio Rodriguez. It has excellent production values and is worth a look. I can tell from this short that Machado has a lot of potential and a great film career ahead of him.