It seems impossible, but in my years of reviewing indie cinema, I’ve yet to see an out-and-out comedy. Now I have seen “Reina,” the 14-minute short written and directed by Philip Vickery, and that has been cured.
Oddly, what works about “Reina,” and what makes it so funny, is the material is handled in an off-handed way that doesn’t suggest comedy. It’s opening, featuring an awkward first date between a couple in restaurant has the hallmarks of melodrama. Seth (Sergio Castillo) sits across from the lovely Michelle (Kat Peña), and can’t stop talking about a ‘woman’ named Reina. She’s bored, glued to her iPhone. She wants out. But moments later and we’re catapulted into a ludicrous situation involving a bar and a robbery, and we find Reina is not a woman but a dog whom the sad man has lost during a recent breakup.
I hope this doesn’t count as a spoiler – but it’s impossible to talk about this film without first getting that description out of the way, so there it is.
“Reina” is funny, perhaps unconventionally, because it presents its material not as satire but as ridicule. You have to credit Peña, who plays what could have been a thankless role and gives it life. She looks at Seth, often peculiarly and with mockery, baffled he could care so much about a dog. “Wait…,” she says. “You were taking about a dog?” before lamenting on the low quality of the date. Castillo, playing her date, certainly does seem pathetic. He’s ranting, he’s crying, he begs her for another chance – which she seems intent on giving him. Of course this chance lands them in the company of three robbers, whom I can only guess are Russian, implied by their accent.
The actors who play the robbers aren’t scary, and are playing caricatures of the types of low-level plunders who would probably rob a city bar after hours. Two raid the cash register (coming up with what seems a laughably small amount of cash), while a third frisks the couple before sitting them down and keeping an eye on them.
He’s played by Travis Mitchell, who I loved in 2017’s “Partitioned_Heart.” In that film he plays a grieving father who must let his deceased son go; in this film he plays a thug in a track jacket who takes a keen interest in Seth’s story when he learns it’s about a dog. “I…love…dogs,” he states with a childlike gleam in his eye that betrays the severity of the moment. In “Patitioned_Heart” Mitchell brought me to the brink of emotion, while here he split my sides with laughter. It’s not easy for an actor to play both extremes so effectively, but Mitchell can.
The additional robbers are played by Ron Orlovsky and Woodrow Proctor. They’re not given much screen time or focus, but act effectively.
The set pieces are simple yet effective. Cinematographer Daryl Marc keeps the lighting ambient and dimmed, and contrasts the two venues the couple attends for their ‘date’ respectfully. The first bar is upscale and modern; the second run down and pedestrian. The way he focuses the camera on the couple at the film’s opening reminded me of another indie I’ve seen, “Ewww,” which also fixated on a date that ends bizarrely; but here the material is displayed more lightheartedly and accessibly. Marc makes the shots interesting, fluctuating between closeups and pullbacks. “Reina” isn’t really a cinematographer’s film, but he does well with what he has to work with.
“Reina” utilizes a hefty suspension of disbelief, as we’re meant to believe Seth’s story has the power to dissuade the thieves from doing them harm, but the effect never really plays. It’s not supposed to.
The thieves don’t appear menacing, nor particularly competent, yet are drawn to Seth’s story by a childlike love of dogs. When another thief shows a picture of his dog, which died when he was young, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Reina” is the highest order of slapstick, and Vickery knows what he’s doing.
I’m sure you could criticize this movie, which rides the line of disbelief into infinity, but why bother? At only 14 minutes in length it never drags, its performances are pleasing, and its hysterical ending – which I can’t even hint at here – had me chuckling out loud. “Reina” was nominated for ‘Best Comedy’ at the Northern Virginia International Film and Music Festival, and why not? This is a film that’s fun yet never takes itself too seriously.
– by Mark Ziobro
