Writer/director Derrick Scocchera has written a fun, simple story that is none too complicated, yet does offer a little bit of depth, thanks to his words in conjunction with the lead performances. He also brings a nice, noirish look to the film, working with director of photography Hiro Narita. The black and white project, shot on 35mm film, has a nice feel to it. The film is not too crowded, and makes nice use of shadow.

The DVD is nicely presented, although I did notice some edge enhancement, in 2.35:1 widescreen. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 and there are no subtitles. The lone extra is a trailer for the feature.

An interesting thing to note is that this film is not being marketed as such; rather, it is being marketed as Mike Patton's first film score, as it is being released as a special edition Digipak that includes both the score album, which runs longer than the film itself, and the DVD of the film. This is presumably because, in addition to the difficulties of marketing an independently produced short film without a strong advertising campaign, Mike Patton's name is much more well known and will appeal to his fanbase. In this way they are killing two birds with one stone, getting fans more Patton-created music and gaining exposure for this well-made short film.

Bottom line. This is a good short. It may not be terribly deep or have much in the way of subtext, but it is an interesting journey into the misadventures of these two men. We are given just enough to tell this particular section of the story, while the groundwork is laid to let the viewer fill in the blanks with their own versions of the story regarding what led to this point and what could possibly happen in its aftermath.

Recommended.