Short Film: The Gunfighter (USA, 2014)

What if the omnipresent voice of the cheap Western novel could suddenly to be heard by all those who are involved in the tale, and what if that voice was of a perfidious nature and knew everyone's sexual secrets? This concept is the basis of director Eric Kissack's little film here, the very professional-looking, nine-minute short film entitled The Gunfighter, written by Kevin Tenglin. 

The Gunfighter just won the award for Best Short Film at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival and is currently making the rounds at other festivals, where it is rightly enjoying a good reception and should surely bring in a few more honors.Some guy named S. James Wegg reviewed the short for the 20th Annual Palm Springs International ShortFest earlier this month, and, under the heading "The danger of thoughts being heard aloud", he gave the film five stars and wrote: "The old expression 'if you could read my mind' takes on a new and hilarious meaning in Kissack's satire of life in the Old West. Starting with the arrival of a stranger packing iron (Shawn Parsons [of The Sacrament (2013 / trailer)]) is ideally cast as the gradually conflicted gunfighter) in a dusty saloon, the narrator (superb texture and tone from Nick Offerman [of  Sin City (2005 / trailer) and Cursed (2005 / trailer)]) quickly slips his usual noose of dryly revealing back-story and begins revealing damning secrets about everyone from the town whore (Eileen O’Connell [of Get Dead (2014 / trailer) and Heterosexuals (2010 / trailer)]) to all of her Johns and even a 'Jane' or two who dare not speak her name. Of course the notion of a 'ballet of death' artfully has its payoff, leaving everyone seeing red and the audience praying that no all-seeing narrator will lay bare their foibles, transgressions and predilections for all to see. But relax, in these days of social media mania, how could that ever happen?"
Enjoy A Wasted Life's "Short Film of the Month" for July 2014: The Gunfighter.