Director:
John Schwert
Studio/Production Company:
Fourth Ward Productions
Genre:
Drama
Sub-Genre:
Mystery
Length:
Feature
Awards Won:
WorldFest Houston, Silver Award, Indie Drama
Website:
http://www.4wproductions.com/amongbrothers/index.html
Score:
3/5
Yes, of course, in a perfect world, a film that is “based on actual events” or “inspired by a true story” should be judged on its own merits as a piece of cinema rather than how it holds up against relentless fact-checking. Just ask the famously revisionist Oliver Stone, who seems to have built his whole career on subjective interpretations of historical figures and events. In the case of this low-budget indie, the ongoing back story behind the events depicted in the film and, in fact, the actual production of the movie have generated so much notoriety that some viewers might find it hard to watch it with an open mind, if, in fact, it was not all of the recent media attention that first attracted them to the film in the first place.
The indisputable facts of the real story are that in 1994 the burned beyond recognition body of promising college senior Jennifer Matthews was discovered in the aftermath of a raging inferno in her off campus apartment. Initially presumed to be a tragic accident, the case took a dramatic turn when an autopsy revealed that Matthews had no smoke in her lungs, indicating that she was already dead when the fire broke out. Despite an intense investigation, fourteen years later, nobody has ever been charged with her murder.
With names changed to protect the innocent and, quite possibly the guilty, the film is set at a small fictional college in the South where frat boy Ethan (Matt Mercer) is drawn to Jennifer (Lauren Schneider), a pretty, smart, accomplished and promising business major just before graduation. When, after a few pleasant encounters, Jennifer tells Ethan that she likes him as a friend but nothing more, he, big surprise, loses it, confronts her and is soon explaining to a couple of his frat brothers Miles (Corey Cicci) and Billy (Daniel J. Watts) that he might be in serious trouble. Returning to the scene of the confrontation, Jennifer’s apartment, with Miles and Billy, they discover her unmistakably dead body and Ethan suddenly cannot remember what actually took place. Recognizing that a crime has clearly taken place, that Ethan would appear to be a likely suspect, the three young deliberate briefly, plot and then execute a plan to disguise the crime scene as an accidental fire.
The filmmakers choose, interestingly, to focus on the aftermath of the crime, rather than the build up to the event, effectively emphasizing the paranoia that sets in amongst the three conspirators and the mounting external pressure from the police investigation that strains the boundaries of their loyalty to one another.
Director John Schwert delivers a fairly competent, if not particularly distinctive or remarkable production that manages to work well within the obvious constraints of a low-budget, much like any number of crime re-enactment TV shows littering the airwaves. The acting ranges from half-decent to so-so but the real point of interest (behind the scenes anyway) here, however fair or unfair, is on the role of the first-time screenwriter Tom Matthews, brother of the actual victim in the case, Jennifer Matthews. What makes the whole affair so sordid and compelling is that now, according to the recent Dateline NBC story about the unsolved case, Tom Matthews, who presents a pretty convincing account of the events leading up to his sister’s murder, is, himself, considered by some to be a suspect in the case. As a matter of fact, one of the investigators working on the case has also jumped into the indie filmmaking ring and produced his own full length feature version of the story that depicts Tom as the real murderer. Watching both films back-to-back, perhaps broken up by a screening of the Dateline story, could prove a unique and provocative viewing experience
John Schwert
Studio/Production Company:
Fourth Ward Productions
Genre:
Drama
Sub-Genre:
Mystery
Length:
Feature
Awards Won:
WorldFest Houston, Silver Award, Indie Drama
Website:
http://www.4wproductions.com/amongbrothers/index.html
Score:
3/5
Yes, of course, in a perfect world, a film that is “based on actual events” or “inspired by a true story” should be judged on its own merits as a piece of cinema rather than how it holds up against relentless fact-checking. Just ask the famously revisionist Oliver Stone, who seems to have built his whole career on subjective interpretations of historical figures and events. In the case of this low-budget indie, the ongoing back story behind the events depicted in the film and, in fact, the actual production of the movie have generated so much notoriety that some viewers might find it hard to watch it with an open mind, if, in fact, it was not all of the recent media attention that first attracted them to the film in the first place.
The indisputable facts of the real story are that in 1994 the burned beyond recognition body of promising college senior Jennifer Matthews was discovered in the aftermath of a raging inferno in her off campus apartment. Initially presumed to be a tragic accident, the case took a dramatic turn when an autopsy revealed that Matthews had no smoke in her lungs, indicating that she was already dead when the fire broke out. Despite an intense investigation, fourteen years later, nobody has ever been charged with her murder.
With names changed to protect the innocent and, quite possibly the guilty, the film is set at a small fictional college in the South where frat boy Ethan (Matt Mercer) is drawn to Jennifer (Lauren Schneider), a pretty, smart, accomplished and promising business major just before graduation. When, after a few pleasant encounters, Jennifer tells Ethan that she likes him as a friend but nothing more, he, big surprise, loses it, confronts her and is soon explaining to a couple of his frat brothers Miles (Corey Cicci) and Billy (Daniel J. Watts) that he might be in serious trouble. Returning to the scene of the confrontation, Jennifer’s apartment, with Miles and Billy, they discover her unmistakably dead body and Ethan suddenly cannot remember what actually took place. Recognizing that a crime has clearly taken place, that Ethan would appear to be a likely suspect, the three young deliberate briefly, plot and then execute a plan to disguise the crime scene as an accidental fire.
The filmmakers choose, interestingly, to focus on the aftermath of the crime, rather than the build up to the event, effectively emphasizing the paranoia that sets in amongst the three conspirators and the mounting external pressure from the police investigation that strains the boundaries of their loyalty to one another.
Director John Schwert delivers a fairly competent, if not particularly distinctive or remarkable production that manages to work well within the obvious constraints of a low-budget, much like any number of crime re-enactment TV shows littering the airwaves. The acting ranges from half-decent to so-so but the real point of interest (behind the scenes anyway) here, however fair or unfair, is on the role of the first-time screenwriter Tom Matthews, brother of the actual victim in the case, Jennifer Matthews. What makes the whole affair so sordid and compelling is that now, according to the recent Dateline NBC story about the unsolved case, Tom Matthews, who presents a pretty convincing account of the events leading up to his sister’s murder, is, himself, considered by some to be a suspect in the case. As a matter of fact, one of the investigators working on the case has also jumped into the indie filmmaking ring and produced his own full length feature version of the story that depicts Tom as the real murderer. Watching both films back-to-back, perhaps broken up by a screening of the Dateline story, could prove a unique and provocative viewing experience