The Devil May Care Trilogy – Review

Jonathan Creed The Devil May Care Trilogy short film review
Jonathan Creed The Devil May Care Trilogy short film review

Directed by: Jonathan Creed

Runtime: 30 mins

Being based in a city such as Brisbane, it is actually a very rare privilege to be able to see something home-grown. That’s not saying that there are no creative ventures out there—in fact, Brisbane is surprisingly vibrant and creative—but local, independent screenings are quite hard to come by. Made by local music-video veteran Jonathan Creed, The Devil May Care trilogy is a collection of three short films, averaging around ten minutes each, following the same overarching storyline while utilising a different genre for each instalment. In this vein, please enjoy a three-part The Devil May Care review.

Jonathan Creed The Devil May Care Trilogy short film review - Part One: Blood

Part 1: Blood begins in a warehouse, where a young Irish lad witnesses his father doing some nefarious deeds. Twenty years later, following the beats of a mob-crime venture, the film mostly centres around an exchange between a lost son and members of his father’s business. This part of the film shines in its cinematography and performances—our humble little city is made to look vibrant and energetic, and the lead actor, Dave Beamish, is both intense and engaging. While suffering from the constraints of its length, the plotline is interesting enough and was satisfying to watch.

Jonathan Creed The Devil May Care Trilogy short film review - Part 
Two: Lust

Part 2: Lust, however, while showing incredible premise stylistically, follows a film-noir-esque tale of henchman and femme-fatale, presenting a romance that didn’t seem to have enough time to flourish. Once again, the cinematography is of a high quality and the acting is solid enough (acting being one of the things that can entirely derail a short film—let alone three). Of the three parts, Lust is the one that can more steadily stand on its own, but as a part of the larger storyline it seems to take time away from developing more central characters.

Jonathan Creed The Devil May Care Trilogy short film review - Part 
Three: Wrath

Part 3: Wrath pulls us directly out of our smooth romantic tale, into balls-to-the-wall psychological thriller territory. A creepy rendition of ‘Hush Little Baby’ is sung over its establishing shots, as it attempts to present an interesting ending to our main character’s arc. Set mostly in one location, the cinematography is of a decent quality, but doesn’t shine as brightly as in the first two. The acting is, once again, incredibly strong, with Beamish able to showcase more of his range this time. Once again, the issues with this part lie in the scope of the project—we do not have enough of a background to let the inevitable psychological twist make much of an emotional impact, nor are we ever completely aware of just what happened in this thing.

Overall, the two words I would attribute to this trilogy are scope and promise. It is obvious that a lot of the people behind these films are talented, creative individuals, but the scope of this production did work to its detriment. The narrative, while interesting, did suffer from lack of exposition or character growth throughout the three films—ten minutes for each did not leave us with enough time to align with, well, anyone. However, I cannot commend Dave Beamish enough here—for something so small-scale, he still gave the project a degree of quality that brought it up in my estimations. As for its director, Jonathan Creed, this was promising enough to make me interested in seeing his future projects. Perhaps with more time, stricter editing, and a bit more polish, Creed will be able to provide us with something that can give our little city something to be proud of.

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