A family plays a friendly board game.
POOR TAX is used with permission from Oliver Salk and Alec Bewkes. Learn more at oliversalk.com and / coolhandbewk .
A family is gathering together, settling into their tradition of a friendly board game. They're playing the classic game Monopoly, but soon the game's objective of buying assets, charging rent and earning money opens up a can of worms: the differing political opinions of the father and his daughter.
What starts as a debate about policy and ethics devolves into personal attacks and snide remarks. And what should be a game turns into a litmus test -- not just of politics, but of the family's ability to stay close and loving despite differences in opinion.
Directed by Oliver Salk and Alex Bewkes from a script written by Bewkes, this short family comedy has a script that reels off political tidbits from both the left and right sides of the aisle. But while the dialogue is peppered with the typical contemporary political discourse you'd read on Facebook now, it's not a political film. It takes no sides, and balances arguments with counter-arguments. Instead, it's about how the divisiveness and rancor that characterizes today's often online discussions have bled into real-life relationships between friends, neighbors and families, fraying civil and close bonds and turning togetherness into a battleground.
Shot with a crisp, clear light within a well-off, comfortable family home, the narrative quickly establishes an arch tone, with grandiose flourishes of music over close-ups of Monopoly money. The storytelling moves quickly, establishing each member of the family and their general personalities. There's an irascible outspoken patriarch, a peacemaking mother who just wants to watch DOWNTON ABBEY, his "socialist" daughter Julia and two brothers who would rather just play the game.
Perhaps it's inevitable that father and daughter would clash, and their argument over their different takes on American life quickly turns heated. The film doesn't dwell on the issues very long, because what's fun about the storytelling is how the conflict and arguing uncover a funnier, knottier tangle of grievances, secrets and general dysfunction. The ensemble cast, lead by actor Circus Szalewski as Scott the father, plays off each other well, with everyone bubbling along with deft comic timing and yet playing genuine, grounded emotions amid the tumult. As shocking personal revelations come to the surface -- including someone's predilection for an "inflate-a-mate" and another sibling's questionable side hustle -- what's clear is that it's not just differences in opinion operating here, but how the members of the family just don't know one another at all anymore.
Being a smart comedy with a sense of equal opportunity irreverence, POOR TAX ends with a very well-constructed, final gambit, as Scott realizes how he's failed as a parent. He aims to teach his progeny a lesson, only to find himself at the mercy of chance. How the family handles this final situation is heart-warming, offering a middle ground for how two sides can come together. But it's also true to character, and in the end, it also hints that changing anyone's convictions, especially in this day and age, sadly might be an exercise in futility.
28 апр 2023
