Matthew Kyle Levine has quietly become one of the best directors working today. His previous films such as MISS FREELANCE and DADDY’S WALLET show him to be a master of creating life on a cinema screen. He is a director that needs to be given a larger canvas to work with,
His current film is the short CALEB & SARAH. It’s the story of a young couple who decide to live out of their car. Some times they sleep in the car, some times in a motel. It’s a quiet slice of life that made me pause since I wasn’t certain if the film was a documentary or a narrative. It’s a film that wonderfully puts you into the place the characters are. We can feel the places they are and get a sense of the world they live in.
CALEB & SARAH is a film that shows how Levine has grown as a filmmaker. When you compare it to his earlier films you see how much more assured he is. There isn’t a need to control the characters in every second, not that he ever did, because Levine is truly an actor’s director, but this time there is a bit more to what we are seeing. Before everything served the story, here everything serves the character and instead of characters we get people on the screen.
And because of the nature of the story and because of the nature of the characters I realized while the film was nearing it’s end that some one needs to let Levine direct a feature. I wanted more time with these characters and in this world. I wanted to see more. That Levine has made a film that makes us want to lean in so we can see more is the sign of a great director.
Until he is allowed to direct a feature shorts like Caleb & Sarah will have to do.
Recommended.
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