I was watching
“Awake O’Sleeper” on my computer, in my room, in the end of a boring
day, half asleep, and ready for a quick film. And what I got at the
end was a pretty damn great short musical from Brandon McCormick.
And when I say pretty damn great, I mean this is probably one of the
best indie musicals I’ve seen in a long time and you can only say
that about the 5% of indie filmmakers daring enough to try their
hand at the genre.
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Though I
don’t know if you could call this a musical since four
minutes would render it a music video, but being a short
film, “Awake O’Sleeper” should be put in to that genre. With
booming incredible music by the rather thunderous Wright
Brothers, McCormick’s dramatic tale is the story of an
unnamed hero who awakens in the middle of a field to see a
group of struggling men pulled as slaves by chains and
beckons them to fight back and revolt. |
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This
sounds simple enough and cause for a great inspirational film, but
it’s the original music that really kicks this in to high gear as he
follows the chain gang screaming at them to break free from their
servitude, open their eyes, and decide for themselves once and for
all. McCormicks’s direction is gritty and definitely the mark of a
man with a long future of films ahead of him as he brings a murk and
grime to the landscape of this world to our screen with incredible
cinematography, beautiful choreography, and a sleek style that will
inspire all audiences to tap their feet from start to finish.
Very few indie
musicals (or music videos?) manage to be entertaining let alone
introduce original music that’s actually catchy, but lo and behold,
Brandon McCormick does it. The music is fantastic, the direction is
stunning, and this is a short I’ll see a few more times before putting
it to bed.
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