Pace is the first film from Manchester-based Greengate Productions. It's a 14 minute short, and is based on a real event. Written by Daniel Jillings and Danny Miller, who are also the lead actor and director respectively, this is obviously a very personal project for them.
Without giving away too much, the story centres around Jason (Jillings), who hosts a gender-reveal party for his wife and baby-to-be, at a local golf club. There are disagreements between family members, and a drunken brawl ensues, ending up with Jason being arrested. What happens next, then you'll just have to watch the film for yoursleves!
The story is told with realism and gravitas, and indeed, the bulk of the dialogue is exactly as it would be in real life. The phrases and verbiology of the police officers was just spot on. However, I have two criticisms with this film, and the first is just that. I believe too much emphasis has been placed on these scenes of wordy police speech. In a full-length drama, this would be absolutely fine and would build the mood very nicely, adding credibility and allowing the audience to understand the process of British law much more fully. However, when the film lasts only 14 minutes, some of these interchanges would have benefited from a preceed version. The second thing which stood out for me in this film was the editing. The story is pathetic, human and tragedian. It's a story you want to sympathise with, relate to, and take sides perhaps. However, every time I tried to emote to the action on screen there would be flash-backs, flash-forwards, or very abrupt cuts in the scenes, as well as much of the action being played in almost slow-motion, miming with background music. All of this, which happened throughout, many times, became frustrating. I understood why the director / editor might want to include such flash-frames but for me it was both overuse of them and the fact that they interrupted the narrative rather than adding to it which put me off. Don't let this put you off watching though, these are just my own personal opinions; the film is excellently crafted and acted with real heart, and that is obviously the style that they were looking for in this production. It's all subjective!
What I did like very much was the film's title. Yes, the title! It's clever. I didn't understand the reason behind the single word, Pace before watching it, but it has a triple meaning (whether deliberate or not). Pace - the speed of the film versus the speed in which things take a downward spiral. But it could aslo relate to the acronym PACE [Police And Criminal Evidence], as well as also being Italian for 'peace'. All three would be at least in part apt for the film.
The film is quite moving and, as I have already stated, realistic. The characters and themes are built-up nicely. The signposts to the catharsis are well signalled but not utterly obvious, which, in such a short time frame, is superbly handled; and the cast are all excellent and well chosen. I thoroughly enjoyed the premise and storyline of the film; it's such a pity I wasn't able to engage in it the way I would have liked to due to stylistic choices.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 12/5/20
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