A man is given one hour to make a difficult decision: Financial ruin or protect his family by killing someone.
Written and directed by Alex Kahuam, Failure! is a single location film that entirely takes place in one house, or maybe cabin, where the lead character spends the entirety of the film and other characters come and go. The idea at the center of everything and the setting are basically good, but the film feels like something is sorely lacking in the story department and viewers may find themselves not paying attention here and there in the film and eventually possibly giving up entirely. The film has a few twists and turns, but honestly, but the time they show up, there is no care left and they don’t matter tall that much. Too much time is spent on characters that don’t fully make a difference and on things that don’t fully matter like trying on wedding attire for characters who have shown up in an attempt to establish the family the lead is supposed to care for enough to potentially kill someone. It doesn’t work here, that whole sequence could have been replaced by a phone call between family members or a quick visit and drop off, but it takes its time, and we get to have a dude in a shirt way too small for some reason, possibly comedic relief. There are a few other scenes meant to set things up that mainly just take run time away from things that could have been more interesting. The story overall has some good, but also some boring bits and some useless bits, so it’s difficult to fully immerse yourself in the film.
In terms of performances, it is definitely fun to see Ted Raimi as the lead here, James, and he makes the most of his screentime, really getting into his performance. He is THE reason to check this film and thank goodness for his performance. Other actors come and go, some not getting enough screentime to make any sort of impact or impression. Others show up, get their few minutes, make the most of those, and leave the story. One of these performers is Merrick McCartha who is a solid actor and gives his usual type of performance, one that makes an impression, even in just a few minutes.
Now, for one of the worst aspects of the film, the cinematography. The work by Ernesto Lomeli here is hard to describe as anything else but messy. The constant shaking and moving of the camera are headache inducing and does not help the viewer stick with the film. Yeah, it may have been an artistic decision to give the film a specific energy, but it doesn’t work, basically making the film unwatchable for anyone with visual issues or migraine headaches from flashing and constant movements. The way the film is shot makes the story a disservice. A more stable camera, and editing, style could have made the film feel frenetic without being aggravating.
Overall, Failure! is not entirely bad, but it has issues and the way it is filmed and put together is not agreeable. It makes the film a hard one to watch because of artistic decisions and attempts at giving the film a style or mood through the shaky camera and how things are presented. Thankfully, Ted Raimi does so much to keep the film on the rails and make it worth checking out.