Sister's Keeper and Creative Charm: A Movie Review

One of the biggest distributors of film is MTI Home Video and one of several titles that this company is releasing in 2010 is the action thriller Sister's Keeper. Sister's Keeper has been available since June 15th on DVD and this picture was written, directed and starred in by Kent Faulcon (War of the Worlds). Faulcon still manages to avoid the pitfalls of making this film an ego vehicle with the use of some evocative writing, a strong appearance by Eric Roberts ("Fear Itself"), and some intimate interactions between a family, which are natural and unforced.

Sister's Keeper follows an ex-soldier and part-time mercenary named Jacob Tate (Faulcon), who is hired to kill a young woman so that a younger brother can receive a multi-million dollar inheritance. Yet, Tate's conscience and libido intervene and soon this hired gun is fighting off a second equally experienced group of mercs' sent to do the same job.

This is low budget independent filmmaking with charm. Although, Faulcon has a fascination with showing guns unbelievably often e.g. while running across public roads, in backyards, in bedrooms etc, this director also keeps the interactions and many conflicts interesting. The acting supports a script that is character based and action driven: "the script is exceedingly well-written" (Movie Room). Actor Roberts even pitches in a few mentoring lines, which move the film forward. Sister's Keeper was probably made for approximately $50K (an informed guess) and yet the film only suffers from a few too many shots of a similar set, some poor lighting during the climax, and a slightly short runtime (101 minutes). Flaws aside this film shows character.

Esther Scott, Blake Hightower, and Denise Boutte play a family in turmoil in this latest Offset Filmworks production and those curious about the latest action thriller from MTI Home Video can pick this film up on DVD now. This is easily one of better thriller releases thus far for 2010; so, pick this title up and see how creativity can still overpower a low budget.

Story/writing/plot: 8 (success in film is all about story-telling, well written characters, interesting twists and plot developments).
Setting/surrealism/realism: 6.5 (a few too many shots indoors possibly due to budget constraints, take the next film outside a little more, and more exterior, complex shots with extras)
Characters/individual characterizations/believability: 7.5 (characters are believable, complex, fallible)

Overall: 7.15 skipped heartbeats out of 10 (a solid picture, with excellent writing).