16-year-old auteur makes his mark
A true family project, the low-budget crime picture “Stray Bullets” was co-produced by indie cinema hero Larry Fessenden with his wife, Beck Underwood, and their son, Jack. The elder Fessenden also handles the cinematography while Underwood is the costumer and production designer.
And Jack? He directs his own screenplay and stars. He’s also the editor and wrote and performed the score. And by the way … he’s 16.
The auteur’s age, precociousness and pedigree automatically make “Stray Bullets” an item of interest, although fans of the Fessenden clan will be pleased to know that the movie’s also pretty entertaining and only a little amateurish.
The younger Fessenden and Asa Spurlock play bored teens who are planning to spend the day in the New York countryside goofing off with a paintball gun when they find themselves pinned between three mob fugitives (Larry Fessenden, James Le Gros and John Speredakos) and a hit man (Kevin Corrigan).
Plenty of first-time feature filmmakers have combined grubby genre kicks with personal concerns, but there’s a confidence and energy to “Stray Bullets” that compensates for the rudimentary, over-familiar story.
Fessenden actually seems to have a point here too, about how a steady bombardment of R-rated media has numbed adolescents like himself. It’ll be fun to see what what he has to say about his generation when he reaches the ripe old age of 20.
“Stray Bullets.” Not rated. Running time: 1 hour, 23 minutes. Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills.