The Captain - by Snake and Moon Films
It’s no secret that there is a honeypot of screen talent in Notts. The whole world and his dog know about Shane Meadows and Samantha Morton, but there’s always been a thriving film scene bubbling under the surface too.
This debut short from Vaughn Teufel’s Snake and Moon Films is another one to add to the counterculture canon, a delightful little tale about youth, death, misery and revenge. The setting is the Thrushback Entertainment Centre, a desolate wasteland of mid-life males who go to drown their sorrows in cheap warm lager.
The three main characters are the eponymous Captain (played by Phil Molloy) the young boy Ken (Cohen Day) and his mother Beth (Lucy Varney). The mother and son share a troubled relationship and the Captain takes it upon himself to intervene on the young boys behalf. To tell any more about how this plays out would be to spoil the film, but as a teaser think what would happen if you crossed Pheonix Nights with Dead Mans Shoes.
The rest of the cast is a bunch of total wasters that includes failed entertainer Rimbo Shine (played by I’m Not From London’s Will Robinson), pervy forty-somethings Steve and Barry (Guy Evans and John Elkington) and Mick the barman (Jay Evans). To a man they’re all exceptional in a loathsome and repugnant way.
This film has been the raison d'etre of Writer, Director and Producer Vaughn Teufel for the past year and he will rightfully be touting it round the short film festival circuit on the back of it. Director of Photography Jordan Dubash also deserves special credit for bringing the seediness of a Midlands working men's club to life.
The eighties synth soundtrack, composed by Christopher Hahn and Loz Stone, really helps build the bleak atmosphere. Finally, the costumes are exceptional – particularly the make-up of the Captain himself, a fitting tribute to the skills of lead stylist Lily Chilvers who lost her battle with cancer last July and who the film has subsequently been dedicated to.
The Captain premiered at the Nottingham Writers Studio on Friday 25 March 2016.
Snake and Moon films on Vimeo
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