Ask any writer what's harder to write, a short story or a novel, and you might be surprised at how many would tell you the short story. Sure, novels get all the attention, and they take a certain amount of stamina to produce, but writing a short story takes very specific skills that many successful novelists lack. Fully realizing characters and telling a story from beginning to end in under 10,000 words is far more daunting a task than most novice writers realize until they try.
The short filmmaker faces many of the same difficulties that the short story writer must overcome in order to be successful. In fact I would say his job is compounded by the fact that not only must he have a story that accomplishes all that a short story does, he or she is also faced with the daunting task of accommodating the needs of the medium.
A good movie needs to be visually entertaining as well as intellectually challenging, and it must be very difficult to accomplish both in a piece that's only eighteen minutes long. Unlike the guy who's shooting a feature film, you can't linger over establishing shots or utilize any of the other cinematic techniques to set the mood or atmosphere that are commonplace in today's movies. Somehow or other you have to communicate all of that to the audience while the action of the movie takes place. It would be the equivalent of a writer somehow writing dialogue and descriptive passages simultaneously.
Bookie is a short movie from Persistence Of Vision Films that was directed by Tran Quoc Bao and completed in 2007. Set in Seattle, Washington in 1963, it focuses on the action that takes place in and around a seedy night club one evening. The club is owned by a local mobster, and aside from offering the standard music and booze, he also offers his clientele the services of an in-house bookie. On this night in particular the bookie is swamped as a championship boxing match is being fought.
The bookie of the title, played by Ken Quitugua, has obviously been doing his job taking bets for his boss Jackson (Lester Purry) for some time now, and has lasted this long by not rocking the boat. He might not like what he sees sometimes, but he knows better than to go against his boss. Bookies don't gamble after all, they know only too well how the odds can be stacked against you. Tonight all that is going to change as "Bookie" will decide that sometimes the risk outweighs the gamble, and there are some bets worth taking.
It's a woman, of course, that brings about this change of heart. Billie (Angela Adto) is a waitress in the bar; she is supposedly Jackson's girl and off limits if you know what's good for you. Still there's only so long that a man can stand on the sidelines, and when "Bookie" sees Billie being mistreated by Jackson he wants to help. He convinces her to bet on the upcoming fight, because it's a sure thing that the champ will win, and she can use her winnings to make a clean break from the bar.
When the champ goes down in the first round Billie accuses "Bookie" of setting her up for Jackson, because it's obvious that the boss either had the fight rigged or had known in advance what the result was going to be. Stung by her accusation that he would never do anything without Jackson's permission, and knowing it's the truth, he finally decides to take a chance. When he goes to collect the winnings for the one person who happened to place a winning bet he slips in a claim for Billie as well.
Article comments
1 - Terry Finley
I like the attitude here toward the short story.