No. 68. (2019) Chained for Life. July 17th.

Film No 68 (2019) July 17th.  6:20 PM  LUNA PALACE Leederville. 

Luna Revelation film Festival Perth Western Australia July 4th - 17th.

"There are some bold casting choices in this film, do you have any reservations about it?". (Sarah alerts Mabel to the fact that as a movie starlet she needs to know the cast surrounding her do not possess classic movie good-looks).

Writer/Director Aaron Schimberg (Go Down Death) has much to say in this film within a film about beauty and the overrated currency it holds in a film industry reluctant to take risks when it comes to casting. Chained for Life is a clever film, Schimberg never preaches or shouts his message and many of the scenes play out theatrically. An old, derelict hospital is the set for a horror film. Experimental surgery is carried out on the deformed to correct their afflictions. It's a B grade premise. There is one beauty, Mabel (Jess Weixler), amongst the patients. As a B grade performer, she is blind. As a normal human being behind camera she becomes attracted to Rosenthall (Adam Pearson) a man with type 1 neurofibromatosis, a facial disfigurement. He is gentle, caring and open with her about his dreams, dreams he'll never be able to fulfill. There is an experimental feel to Chained, but there is method to Schimberg's ambitions here. Every scene has  meaning and I was never certain if I was in the film of the film, or quite simply, the film itself! If that's confusing then seek out Chained for Life, you'll then know exactly what I mean.  10GUMS.