Mikes Film Talk

Clarke M Smith kindly provided us a short college film he did; back in the day. Anonymity features a few stumbling blocks. It has a run time of just over 14 and a half minutes. The film features subdued violence, one death and a double kidnapping. All in all a considerable amount of action takes place in a short period of time.

Anonymity Story

Two sisters fighting each other, a safety deposit box and a kidnapping all make for some interesting action.

The Cast

Peter Beam is Special Agent 1.

Sherry M. Felix is customer.

Thomas Findlow is Bo.

Kayloni Moats is Hope.

Lloyd Cooke is Miles.

M Todd Meador is Urich.

Beth Ballweg is Felicia.

Leilani L Moats is Dashelle.

Ande Felix is Hairdresser.

Let’s Talk Anonymity

Smith co-directs and co-writes this one with Peter Beam. Both Smith and Beam do triple duty as the special agents at the end of the film. Overall, the film offers quite a bit in action and plot for a short film. Anonymity also has an impressive amount of folks in the cast. That hairdresser salon is packed with customers and hairdressers. Quite impressive for a short film.

There is an issue with the soundtrack intruding over the spoken dialogue. It also manages to override the sound effect at the end of the film making the joke easy to miss. “I gave her a gun with blanks.”

Another issue is the special agent holding his gun while reading the suspect his Miranda Rights. His partner should have cuffed the man by then and the guns would have been holstered.

The film is also quite dark in places. Presumably from using natural lighting.

I also had issues trying to find out how the safe deposit box was tied into the two sisters. What did it contain that was so important? If the contents were mentioned, I missed it.

It Does Work

Anonymity does work and it is an ambitious bit of film. At one point someone is shot at point blank range. The blow out from the shot is instantaneous, although it does not really resemble blood at all. For all that, the “shot” is effective.

While the rest of the film’s violence is pretty lowkey it works. The threat is there and it does what it is meant to do; intimidate. The sequence in the hairdressers is impressive. There are enough customers and salon workers that the entire set feels quite real.

Smith and Beam do an adequate job here. Smith, a personal favorite, moves on with his later films, as evidenced by their viewing.

The Verdict

Anonymity earns a sold 3 stars out of 5. Despite my issues with the film, it does what it sets out to do. It entertains. It is available to stream, in its upscaled version, via YouTube.