HIT

TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER AT MIDDAY UGC HAYMARKET SCREEN 3

Country USA Running Time 88 mins Format 16mm/BetaSP/MiniDV/Hi8 Dir Blake Calhoun Prods Blake Calhoun, Troy Grant DoP Cliff Richhart Cast Troy Grant, David Wilk, Paul Slavens, Frank Ford, Oliver Tull Print Source Loud Pictures E blake@loudpictures.com

This is a hilarious and unique mockumentary about the Pascadellis, a once notorious mobster family. Whereas the family used to be a force to be reckoned with, the boss, Paul Pascadelli, has been making bizarre changes in both his business practices and his personnel.

The family grants filmmaker Robert Brewer unprecedented access to document the everyday lives of the family. His hope? To discover why this once proud organisation has taken such a sudden fall from grace. The film duly follows Robert on this often enlightening, truly fascinating and highly entertaining journey into the depths of the dysfunctional Pascadelli underworld.

Two obvious key elements to the success of mockumentaries are the humour and the acting, and both are terrific in this film. What makes the film even more impressive is that it was completely improvised and had no script. When you see the hilarious ending to the film, you can therefore only be impressed by the talent on display behind and in front of the camera. The cast, a comedy troupe called Four Day Weekend, have actually been entertaining audiences in Sundance Square going on six years now - hopefully this film will ensure their talents are finally recognised on the larger scale that they deserve. OH

Blake Calhoun graduated in 1993 from the University of Texas and today is CEO of Loud Pictures and ImageWorks in Dallas, Texas. This is his second feature film (his debut was Thugs), but the first he has directed without a script.