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Reviews
Red Wednesday (2008)
Sad Beauty
Sholeh is a lonely little nine-year-old girl. She eats her lunch at a distance from her schoolmates and wonders why her Zoroastrian mother sends her to a Catholic school in the first place. But the greatest source of sorrow in Sholeh's life is her sad mother's failing health.
Sholeh devises a plan to lift her mother's spirits with a fire-jumping holiday ritual her mother has missed ever since fleeing Iran, but fate seems set on blocking her plan.
This melancholy little nine-minute movie is beautifully filmed with a charming soundtrack of traditional Persian music.
The best part of the movie, however, is the performance by little Tania Haddad, who speaks volumes without ever opening her mouth.
The Mini (2007)
Mini Film With Maximum Heart
What's a loser to do when he's even smaller than the small-time? Win the Mini!
Fran Molon works in a small mattress store in a tiny town. And he's not even allowed to sell mattresses. Fran only gets to sell futons. Fran's nemesis is Rick, the cocky, womanizing mattress salesman who is a shoe-in for the new assistant manager position.
In this hilarious battle of losers, Fran just needs to beat the state champion at a mini-marathon, and win the heart of the lovely Carmen. This loser just might pull it off.
In The Mini, director Ron Beck has taken everything small about no-budget independent films, turned them into strengths, and created a true gem that will appeal to audiences of all ages and persuasions.
The story is filled with zany characters like Fran's best friend Dale, a lovable, swaggering mall security guard who dreams of being a cop, and Roy, the overeager citizen that dreams of being a mall security guard.
Fran Molon is played to subtle, geekish perfection by Larry Dahlke, who works well as a poor-man's Steve Carell.
The film is filled with all the marks of a no-budget independent film, but they are packaged into story, setting, and characters that just make it all work. It is truly a small film with a huge heart.