101. Kaufman's Game; movie review

KAUFMAN'S GAME
Cert 15
88 mins
BBFC advice: Contains drug misuse, infrequent strong violence, injury detail

Here's an oddity. A low-budget crime thriller which played in a couple of faraway Odeon screens and is now. thankfully, available on Amazon Instant.
I say 'thankfully' not because I enjoyed Kaufman's Game but for the sake of completeness in the everyfilm challenge.
To be honest, I thought Helier Bissell-Thomas's film missed whatever mark it was trying to make.
I suspect that there is some deep and meaningful point to its slow staccato style but, in my view, it just made it appear wooden and boring.
It stars Jye Frasca as an unemployed amateur boxer who, for reasons which are never explained, lives in a posh house in upmarket suburbia.
He comes out of what appears to be a lack-lustre training session and is stopped on a street corner by a stranger (Toby Osmond) who offers free help his performance.
He offers the meekest of resistance to this out-of-the-blue offer for what turn out to be tablets even though it would appear obvious to anyone that he would end up being indebted to his provider.
And so it turns out - when he wants more tablets he is told he will have to complete a small task which in turn embroils him in a sinister game.
Tor Andreas Fagerland plays the puppeteer in this game of life and death while Frasca's character is a reluctant player.
Why he doesn't just opt out altogether is never made clear but the same could be said of myriad elements of Kaufman's Game.
For example, what is Kaufman's business, who are his sinister associates and what relation does a strange woman in black (Amy Pemberton) have to him?
And why is the movie's script delivered in an annoying monotone?
Questions to which I will never know the answers and I don't really care.

Reasons to watch: If you enjoy low budget crime thrillers
Reasons to avoid: Its deliberately staccato approach makes it seem wooden

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4/10

Director's quote - Helier Bissell-Thomas: "I have always had a real affection for both suspense and minimalism in cinema, and I feel that the low-to-no budget filmmaking model really lends itself to cinematic minimalism and suspense."

The big question - Do the crimelords portrayed in films really exist?

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