2015 Dallas International Film Festival premiere of SOME BEASTS.
I recently had the pleasure of seeing the 2015 Dallas International Film Festival premiere of SOME BEASTS written and directed by Cameron Bruce Nelson. Frank Mosley stars as Sal Damon, a farm care taker in Appalachia forced to reassess his identity within this farming community.
I'll say it now. Frank Mosley is probably one of the best film actors we have in Dallas. He conveys so much with his face and is effortless and efficient. He has a beautiful way of delivering his dialogue, so nuanced, unforced and effective. The genius of the film is that it takes on the neorealism approach by weaving actors with non-actors. It forces the actors not to act and the non-actors to be slightly aware producing a seamless world. Frank, Cameron and the rest of the cast and crew all lived together during several seasons to capture the ever changing landscape of the farm life. It was so apparent that this process proved to serve the story because you could see that change in Frank. He went through a beautiful physical transformation with full force. Cameron and Hutch (director of photography) served the story well with so much visual poetry since the landscape is at the core one of the most important characters. The title comes from Pablo Neruda's poem, Algunas Bestias about a paradise that is blissful and dangerous at the same time. SOME BEASTS is without a doubt a literary film.
Cameron, Mosley and Hutch take great care in following in the footsteps of iconic indie filmmakers and actors and that's what separates them from the local filmmaking scene in Dallas. It's refreshing to see this type of work handled with such care and preparation. Look for it at the NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL (https://nashvillefilmfestival.org) on the 17th and 20th of April. And check out their website for future developments (http://www.somebeasts.com).