Review -- Whiskey Tears

Though it didn't play at Cinequest we felt compelled to write about a film made in San Jose, a short entitled WHISKEY TEARS. Local production studio Element 151 Films kindly sent us a screener copy though the promotional handle of Jack Daniels was strangely absent.

Could be our mailman was thirsty.

The movie opens with two female leads navigating a hooptie around deserted streets near the museum of modern art. The two are styled after characters from the Tarentino oeuvre. They're both immaculately dressed and made up in pinup girl fashion. They drink heavily but show a soft side to a homeless man. Later they laugh off a knocked out tooth but sob quietly into nearby bushes at a night gone awry.

We especially liked how the movie reverses gender roles typical of 1950s culture that the characters emulate. It's the lady who ditches her arm candy and wanders to another night club, usurping the microphone and doing impromptu karaoke while the backing band plays on.

An understated script gleams like polished chrome on a chopper bike. The script of a typical bar crawl never deviates far from the usual anyway. That's why it resonates so well, we think. It's a ritualized war against a mundane suburban experience. The weapon of choice is a blunt force instrument made from the distillation of rye mash and corn.

The battle plan remains familiar: establish a beachhead in someones backyard. Drink. Play some variant of beer pong, lawn darts or foos-ball. Drink. Ride bikes to watering hole #1. Drink. Do something impulsive that gets you kicked out. Ride wobbly away. Post up some other place and then kick off the whole process again with similar results.

This isn't the first film to glorify the wanton consumption of alcohol, nor will it be the last. Underneath that, though, is a love letter to the people and places that remain tethered to their community despite gentrification and redevelopment. If there's any Anglo-Saxon culture left in downtown San Jose this is it.

Element 151 Films Official Site