Palacio Presidencial! (2004)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Kent Sanderson

Writer:

Kent Sanderson (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Tagline:

Problem? Just shoot them in the face!

Plot:

A sitcom that depicts the crazy life an affable dictator of a Caribbean island nation, his scheming wife, his best friend/chief interrogator, and their English butler.

Plot Keywords:

Dictator | Sitcom | Parody | Political Satire

Cast

Alfredo Diaz	...	Federico Olive
Sean Glazebrook	...	Maurice the Butler
Chris Golio	...	General Estampo
Shaun Ireland	...	Mike Druckey
Laura Reichenbach	...	Josefa Olive

Runtime:

USA:10 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Company:

Guy in his Basement Productions

Trivia:

The entire film was made in two and a half hours in an NYU studio. This included assembling the set, briefing camera operators, and shooting the scenes. The last three scenes were shot only once, live-to-tape, and with very little group rehearsal having been done before. Additionally, Chris Golio had received the script only earlier that day, since the previous actor playing General Estampo had become suddenly unavailable.

Quotes:

General Estampo: Problem? Just shoot them in the face!

Movie Connections:

Followed by Nauru: Land of Smiles and Sunshine (2004)

They pull it off

This is mainly noteworthy on account of how little they had to work with, and how impressive the result is. They had little time and limited set, and what they put together actually does work. The plot isn't bad, and there is enough of it to keep this going for the duration of it. This is a sit-com, with the very unusually chosen back-drop of a dictator state, with the typical characters, types and line of jokes. The camera-work and tone emulate the sub-genre of television-based comedy, and save for perhaps one visual gag(which does become apparent when the punch-line is reached, but if a joke hasn't been realized by the audience before that point...), there's very little to criticize in this department. It is somewhat uneven, and, possibly partially due to how short it is, characterization isn't a strong suit of this. The material varies in quality, but it tends to be consistent in style(if not always terribly logical, there's at least one point...), but the players aren't bad, they embrace it for the very most part. Sound is fine. Editing is more or less spot-on. I recommend this to fans of shorts, indies, Sanderson and/or sitcoms. 7/10