review: DEAR PILLOW

Heretic Films  //  Buy from Amazon.com DEAR PILLOW is a dark coming-of-age story about a 17-year-old supermarket bagboy (Rusty Kelley) who discovers that a neighbor in his apartment complex (Gary Chason) writes for a porn magazine. The boy decides to get published in the magazine himself using the overheard conversations of a secret phone-sex enthusiast (Viviane Vives). The three form an alliance that draws them into dangerously adult territory. Interesting - to pair a teenage boy who is just discovering his awakening sexuality with an older homosexual man is not the storyline of most films out there, let alone a truly independent film, yet "Dear Pillow" delves right into this ambitious story with both feet, creature comforts and societal taboos be damned. The film ends up not being overly riske, instead delivering some powerful dramatic fare and impressive acting performances from all of the main actors. Again, most digital video films revolve around some variation of zombies, vampires, blood, guts, etc. (and many of those films end up reviewed right here on DVDschlock.com), but every once in awhile a director uses the medium to tell a different tale, something different from the norm... and "Dear Pillow" is definitely one of those films. There are layers to this film (and to the film's characters) and its fascinating watching them get peeled back, one by one, until we're left with the raw underbelly of these very human, and flawed, personalities. Interesting stuff, very well done. Video The 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfer is very nice, delivering the shot-on-DV feature film in fine form. Audio The included Dolbly stereo mix is also solid, delvering a solid & balanced aural presentation. Extras 2 audio commentaries: director & producer; actors trailers audition footage deleted & extended scenes 2 short films: "Pleasureland" and "Grammy's" Closing Thoughts Well-done, creative dramatic fare + nice selection of extras = a bit heavier, and a bit riskier, indie fare than most