Leftovers

David: Hello and welcome to DoubleFeaturePreachers.com! Today we’re reviewing Leftovers. It came to us courtesy of Tofiq Rzayev of the country of Azerbaijan. The movie is in Turkish, and is located within the Turkish mountains. Here’s a link to the IMDB page. So first, I wanted to say thank you to Tofiq for sending it in. We always appreciate submissions from our independent film crowd!

I’ll be the first to say this: I think some of the translation into English caused a bit of the story to fall short. Leftovers attempts to craft a story of suspense, but it doesn’t fully come across. A young man is being transported by two police officers to view the body of his sister, in order to identify her. There seems to be a lot of intrigue as to who it was, and I really thought we were eventually going to reveal that it was the brother himself.

What were your initial impressions Shannon?

Shannon: My first impressions of this short film was that the acting was good. There was little movement throughout the movie, so I believe that the actors really carried this film. I agree with you that I thought they were eventually going to reveal that it was in fact the brother himself that hurt his sister and dumped her body. I also thought, in the beginning, that the two people in the front seats (who we later find out to be policemen) were up to no good. This is because they were ignoring their commanding officer on the radio. Typically, this is a sign that they are dirty cops. However, as the movie progressed we learned that this was not necessarily the case. What did you think about this aspect David?

David: I completely agree with your assessment of this. I absolutely was misdirected by the opening scene of the movie. I assumed that these men were “taking care” of the man in the backseat, in order to cover up what he did, or possibly in order to get revenge for the girl’s death. This is further backed up by the fact that he spends so much time throwing up - I just thought it was because he was scared of his impending death.

That’s why I opened with the statement about missing things in translation. I almost feel like the set-up for the short, as well as the ending were from a separate film. That’s because the tonal shift that takes place in the middle five minutes of the film makes it seem as if we’re simply watching a man who was distraught about the loss of his sister. I don’t really know.

As far as the acting, I agree with the fact that overall it was pretty good. Gökberk Kozan plays “The Individual” (per IMDB), and I was pretty impressed with his delivery at the beginning and end of the film. Again, I feel like the middle part of the film, consisting of the men outside the car with The Individual repeatedly dry-heaving and then vomiting, felt as if it didn’t belong. His acting suffered here, but that was also because there wasn’t much for him to do. What did you think of the location that was used? Or the shooting style?

Shannon: Not being familiar with the atmosphere over in Turkey, I’m not sure what the perfect location would have been to shoot this film, but for the purposes of what I watched, I liked the location. More so because it helped build the suspense of the movie. Were the officers dirty cops? Was the Individual just acting like he was upset about his sister? Being in the middle of nowhere can really add to this, not knowing which way the movie is going to turn. At one point, because the vomiting scene felt so long, I thought he was trying to escape. I liked the shooting style of the film as well. I felt like the zoomed in at just the right times, and panned out when necessary.

Most suspense movies that I watch give you somewhat of a foreshadowing or clue as to whodunnit, but the reveal in the end really came out of nowhere for me. What did you think of the reveal in the end?
David: To be honest, I didn’t really understand too much of the reveal. How was it revealed who performed the murder? And how did they figure it out? I understand they told the story, but is that really enough to figure everything out?  I wanted a lot more from Leftovers, and just didn’t get it. I really wanted a bigger reveal - but I guess not all movies can give you that. Shannon, do you have anything else to say?

Shannon: I think because of the story that the individual told the police, how he had a friend that recently committed suicide right next to where they found his sister’s body. From what I gathered, the policemen took this story to be connected with the little girl and that he committed suicide because of what he did to the little girl. It was pretty evident to me that the two officer determined that that man was the one that committed the murder of the little girl. I don’t think I have anything else to say other than my rating. I’m going to go with a “Liked it” for this short film, the acting was great and the story was suspenseful enough to keep you watching the entire time.

What rating are you going to give it David?

David: I’ll probably be a bit harsher than you, going forward with a rating of a “C”. Thanks for joining us everyone! Remember to keep sending in any film submissions you have, whether they are your own, someone else’s or just something you want to watch!