Did he throw his lover over the ledge? Or did she jump?
Moviegoers watching “Push” at the Maryland Film Festival will spend most of the screening wholeheartedly believing the main character is a murderer, but wait … maybe not.
“Push,” a short film created by Renegade Productions in Hunt Valley, sprints to outpace other films where it counts ? in conflict, action, dialogue, acting, location and, most importantly, film technology.
“Push” filmmakers “didn?t want to hand you the ending,” said the film?s writer and director, Chris Beutler.
The movie leaves audiences with questions but not the unnerving feeling of being shorted, Beutler said. ” ?Push? makes audiences write so much of the story in their head [compared with] what?s actually in the movie,” Beutler said.
Blustering winds during shooting last January forced the temperature on the outdoor set to plummet to 30 degrees below zero. The crew shot in the bowels and on the rooftop of a 38-story abandoned grain silo in Baltimore.
“It?s one of those environments that?s very visceral,” Beutler said. “When you step off on the deck, it?s like getting punched in the throat.”
For interior shots, the Crownsville Mental Hospital served as the film?s interrogation room.
“[The completed film] left me wanting more,” “Push” line producer Kate Reckner said. “I was wondering, ?What?s going to happen next? Is he going to break down and confess his sin?? ? even though I knew where the footage came from.”
“There?s a lot of work coming out of this area, but ?Push? showed a real grasp of the technology and scored high on all points.” Maryland Film Festival Programming Manager Skizz Cyzyk said.
The color palette for the film conveys the gritty story with muted green and gray tones, and dark colors on actors. “We wanted [viewers] lying on the floor, bleeding from that tone,” Beutler said. “We wanted a film where everything took you to one single place.”
IF YOU GO
“Push”
» Venue: The Charles Theatre
» Where: 1711 N. Charles St., Baltimore
» When: 5:30 p.m. today
» Admission: $10 regular, $8 student
» Information: 410-727-FILM
