The Brief Case

Once in a while, a movie slips in completely under the radar and gives you everything you didn't expect. The Brief Case, funny as it may seem, actually seemed to promise just that! I remember the comments about it fairly well, claiming how the surprise ending was 'worth it,' and 'hilarious.' Needless to say, I wanted in on it all and downloaded the movie.

The short opens to a scene of a man quietly sitting on a park bench with his brief case on his lap. He seems to be minding his own business when, without hesitation, a man chases after him with what seems to be an automatic gun (It turns out to be semi-automatic, apparently).

The music cues a chase, and they race through the park, one in hot pursuit of the other. The camera is utilized in an intelligent manner perhaps twice throughout the short, and in only one scene with true movement. Most of the angles are fairly bland and unimaginative. They seem to me more of Lego play sets where everything is placed on a green mat neatly and in proper order, where you can't see any one part of it without seeing all of the rest.

The animation is passable - certainly not prize winning material, and it's clear to see that the director could've pulled off something much nicer. The lack of quality animation, though, could be in part choice. The movie specifically doesn't call for much in the way of movement, bar one or two scenes to tell you that, yes, this is a chase scene. Beside those, however, the musical score handles the mood of the entire piece. In fact, most of the humor you'll derive from this movie is based on the overly-naive use of music. While the track used clearly doesn't fit the situation, I'm sure that this movie would not work half as well without it. It's dissonance with the story is exactly what the movie was created around, else I'd have to fear for the director's sensibilities.

There is some surprisingly effective cheap shadow work near the end and one last hand at a little action. Beyond that, only the punchline remains. While initially surprising, there is definitely a lot of potential lost in the ending scene. It's not even a brand new idea- that is to say, a brief case containing something unknown, and the audience wondering or being surprised what is inside. Even a simple revision of the same joke, such as including a full course would've helped some. That is, until the ending scene where we learn that there really was nothing to think about and the entire movie was a ham. Without that 'explanation,' I would've given the director the benefit of the doubt and perhaps constructed my own reasons for one wanting The Brief Case as much as they did. But as it is, it's a cheap tie-in and unimpressive take-off of a popular culture gimmick. Come on, man, I'm not even sure if this is a parody or funny 'what-if.'


To be fair, the first time I watched through 3 years ago, I smirked.