With hundreds of movies coming out of the big studios every year, it can be easy to forget that there are even more filmmakers starting out or plying their trade on short form films. The Cobblestone Corridor is one such example. It runs a quick and breezy 25 minutes, telling an enjoyable little self-contained story.
Set in a Prep School, the story follows newspaper Editor-in-Chief Allan Archer (writer/director Erik Bloomquist). He may be prickly, but he prides himself as a writer who “…always finds out the truth.” When a student arrives at his desk claiming that there may be more to the recent firing of the institute’s English Department Chair than meets the eye, the gumshoe sets out to get to the bottom of things.
It’s described as a neo-noir/mystery flick, and the description is more than apt. Noir-esque dealings with underworld figures would normally involve a different kind of thug in a gloomy locale. In this play, the shakedown is on a student who gives out exam answers for cash. Even his headquarters are amusingly moved into the grimiest scholastic equivalent (he works out of a bathroom stall instead of an illegal club).
There’s a reverence towards fast-talking 40s crime films like The Big Sleep and the characters do their best to emulate that kind of delivery. This results in fast, hard-boiled dialogue and terms like “moxy” and “soda jerk” being liberally thrown around. While the turns of phrase definitely don’t sound modern, it’s clear that everyone involved is paying homage to the classics.
The photography is also impressive – this is a very polished-looking short. The Hartford locations offer a lot of snow, which gives the exteriors a unique flavor that sometime match the icy demeanor of the protagonist. There’s also good use of shadows (a staple of the genre) with many of the dark night scenes standing out.
It’s all in good fun and it moves very efficiently. Overall, I was very impressed with the high level of production. Truthfully, it’s difficult to think of much to critique. However, if I had to come up with something, I’d suggest that the heroic character may be a little too thorny. While over the course of the film he certainly changes (using modern technology to his advantage, accepting the help of a freshman and softening to a female student), he may be just a little too austere to get behind (at least early on). But this is a minor complaint.
The Cobblestone Corridor is a zippy and entertaining throwback to a kind of movie we rarely see anymore. Well done to the persons behind this enjoyable short film.
UPDATE: The film is now available On Demand on Vimeo. Check it here:
IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm4620395/