'The Long Road Out of Town' presents what I believe may be an interesting idea - if I understand what's happening - that the Devil is perplexed with a trickster deceiving those he makes evil deals with.
With just over five minutes before black out to credits to tell this short story there were several finer points that elude me even after several viewings.
Great drama work for no budget - other than gas for 'The Long Road Out of Town.'
The isolated location is great. Love the lighting and angles @ 1:53. A nit picking quibble would be with the framing of the pair too far to the right. Speaking of lighting, the contrast between the alternating blowout inducing sunlight @ 0:50 and the blue diffused lighting of 0:54 is notable as well as the apparent time lapse between the well lit entry into the valley @ 0:46 and the departure in blue canyon light after the sun's just gone down @ 4:51 after what looks like a ten minute event.
Back to those truck interior shots, I recognize cabin space is at a premium in there, but it's noteworthy that for 3/4 face shots a little more 2/3 angle would probably better overcome far-eye blocked by the nose bridge barrier.
Weenie, I know. Just something for myself to pay attention to.
The card playing scenes are great. Very well executed. Excellent design of switch over edit @ 4:05!
OMG! HOW did you guys collect such clean audio with that constant brisk wind blowing?! Very nice, technically.
Soundtrack volume level mix with dialog is great. It doesn't compete, but can still be heard, and it "fits."
Acting is sincere, (just give Mrs. Conroy some more practice handling a pistol; specifically, keeping her hand off the slide before firing.
)
Overall, I'd say this is a fair no-budget production of an interesting story segment that would benefit as a stand alone short story from more clarity of what's happening after some black jack deal was buggered with.
