DVD Review: Confessions

Confessions is an anthology of ten short films, but unlike many anthologies, all of the shorts were written and directed by the same person, Mark Bessenger. And so the film has a stronger sense of structure and theme than most anthologies. And while the tone varies from piece to piece, there is always that idea of a confession at the center. This film plays a lot with perspectives. Many of the films feature a character directly addressing the camera, as if making their confessions to us.

The first film, “The Actor,” is one of those. An actor tells his story to a video camera (and to us), about trying to get an agent, and about being taken advantage of by a so-called producer. The shot through the lens of the video camera is in color, while everything outside of the lens is shown in black and white. So it’s like what the man is confessing has more reality than the life around him. There are also thin lines running down the frame in the black and white footage, like it’s an old film print, again making everything around him less real. Interestingly, that makes the actor himself less real, except to the eye of the video camera.

“The True Love” is another in which a character turns to the camera and addresses it directly, as it were a friend: “I know what you’re thinking – giving up the goods on the first date.” The tattoo on the man’s arm is really distracting. What does it mean? I’ve said it before, but actors should refrain from getting tattoos, because I always wonder, is it the actor’s tattoo or the character’s tattoo? This short has a nice ending. “The Wyatt” also has the main character addressing the camera, but this time the camera is the perspective of another character. The camera even “blinks” to show us we’re looking through someone’s eyes. The main character tells us about himself as he slowly undresses. Our silence (that is, the silence of the other man) begins to weigh heavily, making us worry. Things get more twisted, and as we learn more, our sympathies shift. This one too has an excellent ending.

As with all anthologies, some of these short films are better than others. My personal favorite is the second film, “The Puppet.” It opens with a man and woman having dinner at home, while classical music plays. The camera pans over and we see that at the other end of the table are two puppets, Boris and Myron (Boris being a sock puppet). That shot made me burst out laughing. Myron’s delivery of “Uh, thanks, we’ll see” also had me laughing. I love the sort of relaxed absurdity of the scene. The woman begins to gossip about a man at the store who has a different lifestyle, and Myron makes a startling confession of his own. The idea behind this might seem simple, but it is executed so well, and it also comments on shows like Sesame Street and The Muppets in which puppets and people inhabit the same reality without anyone being weirded out.

Another favorite is “The Break-Up,” which is one of the shorts in which a character addresses the camera as another character. In this one too, the character who shares our perspective remains silent, though the tone is quite different from that of “The Wyatt.” This one is funny, as the main character tries to learn why they are breaking up. “Was it when I babysat your two nieces and I told them that the Easter Bunny takes it up the ass from Santa Claus? Because that wasn’t my fault. I was drunk.” Great delivery of these lines and a quick pace through editing help make this one a highlight. “The Beard” is another highlight, and is incredibly different – in tone, in pacing. The simple act of shaving becomes an exploration of self, as a man speaks to himself in the mirror. Or perhaps it’s all in his head, for he seems unsure about what his reflection is saying. This sequence is quite long, and it’s just a man and his reflection, but it manages to hold our attention, mainly because the performance is mesmerizing.

“The Song” is actually a singer/songwriter named Tom Goss performing a song titled “Enoch,” which comes as something of a surprise. The song is really good. But the line spoken at the end of the scene is unnecessary and takes away from the power of the song: “Speak up, before it’s too late.” Between shorts, there are little thoughts presented as titles and also as voice over. Most of these are humorous, like the one about gay marriage and especially the one about a man who buys a sex doll that then won’t put out.

Special Features

The DVD contains six additional shorts. “The Chair” is about a man who had a stroke during sex and is now in a wheelchair, going over his life, as a television game show plays in the background. The man is a comic book fan, and there is some interesting artwork. “The Fan” is another in which the character speaks directly to the camera (at least from certain angles), this time about a pop star that helped him through troubled times. In “The Massage” (though the DVD menu titles it “The Message”), the main character also addresses the camera as he receives a massage from a man we see only briefly. He is an unhappily married man who talks about a gay encounter on the train. In “The Porn Agent,” we get perhaps a more traditional confession, as the man is in a confession booth at a church. “The Star Collector” (the title reminding me of one of my favorite Monkees songs) has the main character, a doctor, addressing the camera, telling us how he wanted to be an astronomer while he sees to a patient who is also a celebrity, obviously playing on two meanings of the word “star.” And “The Wrestler” also finds the main character speaking directly to us (he certainly doesn’t have the ears of a wrestler). These six shorts total approximately forty minutes.

The DVD also includes the film’s trailer.

Confessions is scheduled to be released on DVD on August 2, 2016 through TLA Releasing.