New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• Dark Shadows ***
• Darling Companion **1/2
• God Bless America ***
• Marvel's The Avengers ***1/2
• ReGeneration ***
• Sound of My Voice ***
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits ***1/2
• The Raven ***
• Safe **1/2
• The Lucky One 1/2*
• 4:44 Last Day on Earth **1/2
• Blue Like Jazz **
• The Cabin in the Woods ***1/2
• Damsels in Distress ***1/2
• Lockout **1/2
• The Three Stooges ***
• The Turin Horse ****
• We Have a Pope **1/2
• American Reunion **
• Goon ***
• More

• Bird of Paradise
• Maniac Cop
• Miss Representation
• Mother's Day (2012)
• Murder Obsession
• Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
• Underworld Awakening
• The Vow
• Clueless
• Haywire
• Hit!
• Men in Black
• New Year's Eve
• The Red House
• More

• Peter Lord
• Abel Ferrara
• Nicholas Sparks
• Whit Stillman
• Sean Hayes
• Terence Davies
• Peter Lord Interview
• Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
• Taika Waititi
• Will Ferrell
• Interview: Ewan McGregor [SF Examiner]
• Interview: the 'Project X' stars [SF Examiner]
• Interview: Oren Moverman
• Interview: Rachel McAdams
• Interview: Ti West
• Interview: Elizabeth Banks
• 2011: The Year's Best Films
• Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• Christmas Movies
• Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• More Features and Interviews

• Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Broken (2005)

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

What Is Broken?

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Broken on DVD.

This "pocket thriller" by Alex Ferrari reveals a talent not quite yet developed but willing; his visual sense is way ahead of his storytelling skills. The story involves a mysterious kidnapping, in which a girl is snatched from her kitchen by a band of exotic villains. In a darkened warehouse, our lead villain preens and taunts and plays a harmonica, tormenting his prey until a masked hero turns up and saves her. The hero unmasks himself at one point with a great flourish, and I got the impression that I was supposed to know who he was. Of course, a big shootout follows, as well as a "surprise" ending that's not very surprising. The actors are good enough to overcome some of the stale dialogue, and Ferrari keeps things alive with his inventive framing, though he's a bit too eager during the faster sequences, and he opts for jumble instead of clarity. The opening and closing title sequences, too, are headache inducing; they use all the tricks on Apple's Final Cut Pro, causing the picture to twitch, jump and wriggle like a TV station with bad reception.

DVD Details: The DVD, for sale at www.whatisbroken.com, comes a bunch of special features, and many helpful tips for aspiring filmmakers.

Starring: Samantha Jane Polay, Paul Gordon, Amber Crawford, Derek Evans, Tony Gomez, Jose Luis Navas, Danilo Begovic, Stephan Morris, Ruben Gomez, Ken Robkin, Eric Townsend
Written by: Jorge F. Rodriguez, based on a story by Alex Ferrari
Directed by: Alex Ferrari
MPAA Rating: NR
Running Time: 20 minutes
Date: July 24, 2005