The Ellington Kid which shows a casual conversation between two kebab-eaters detailling some novel urban legend, is a short film that was directed by Dan Sully and was released in 2012 as part of a series of short films.
This short film is evocative, expressive, very successful in telling the narrative and also brilliant. Shot in a couple of small locations the film tactfully blends action, drama and comedy in its short 4 minute runtime, the ending will likely remain burned into your soul long after you have seen the film. That's how scary and terrifying it is.
The film contains many evocative images:
Blood;
Men wielding knives;
Meat;
and the Kebab goers eating.
As you can see, the filmmakers spent a lot of time creating a wealth of impressive images, testament to their talent, as filmmakers. A rich variety of shots, props, characters and scenarii where employed.
The film tells the story of two blokes. One of those blokes wants to tell a story about some man who took refuge in a kebab shop from some gang members. Apparently the Kebab shop owners trap and kill the gang members, selling their flesh as food. The story of the gang members encounter in the kebab shop is told in a flashback sequence, with a desaturated colour palette and with narration from one of the blokes.
The film starts off with a diegetic soundtrack that slowly devolves into a slow droning synthesised musical score, evocative of the rising tension and uncertainty as to what happens next. The flashback sequence is then delightfully interupted, the score replaced by the calm diegisis of the present Kebab shop and one of the kebab goers asking "and then what happened next?". That's a tactful use of comic relief.
The end of the film, partially through this deconstructionist comic relief, leaves us questioning the reality of the kebab-goers story? "Did that story about those people being killed and eaten really occur in the fiction of the film?" is an example of a question this film invites us to ask ourselves. It's truely an open ended film that leaves us engaged in its mysteries. Perhaps it will lead us to think differently about folk tales and folk stories, similar to those depicted in this film, but in real life.
When I'm older, I intend to produce a short film that might resemble this one in some aspects. That's because the film was a great success!
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