Margo Martindale is amazing. That was my first reaction upon viewing her portrayal as the mentally anguished mother Janice Trimble in Zack Parker's brutally demented and compelling revenge drama "Scalene," a movie about points of view and how sometimes our own is all we need to get us through the night. Martindale commands an ingenious movie about the end of a tragedy and the beginning of lunacy where mom Janice Trimble is forced to confront many issues in the run time of the film. One of which is the possibility that her mentally disabled son brutally raped a college girl. No, Ms Trimble insists, he was set up in spite of the fact that his semen is found inside the young woman and his skin is under her nails. "Scalene" begins with an utterly nonsensical moment of pure terror where Janice stands outside a house and storms inside attempting to avenge her son. After a battle with another mom that ends in gun fire, "Scalene" examines all perspectives of this alleged crime to discover if someone is lying or the mentally disabled Jacob may in fact have committed this horrible crime.

Martindale just outright commits to this performance and she is an absolute force of nature no true film lover can deny, while Hanna Hall commits to a fairly restrained but powerful performance as the accused who also falls for Jacob the more she cares for him over the course of the narrative and views the potential for physical abuse the more she spends time with him. This is unlike anything director Zack Parker has done before. From his previous film about vampires entitled "Quench," Parker's follow-up possesses a stark sheen and cinematic gloss that makes "Scalene" something of a visual spectacle along with a dramatic piece that takes all three views of this horrific incident and gives us an eagle eye glimpse to decide for ourselves, and what we inevitably come up with will not sit right with us for days. "Scalene" is a marvelous indie production and one that garners an immense array of collective talent that must be seen to be believed.

Filled with top notch performances, excellent directorial prowess, and a wonderful angle on the typical revenge thriller, "Scalene" is a masterful piece of independent filmmaking with a compelling central mystery afoot setting the stage for many a punches movie lovers will have difficulty escaping for days.