The Deposition is a dark and emotional drama written and directed by Eddie Mensore. While the story is very basic at its core, centering around Adam Long (Charles Rashard) who inadvertently kills his lover in a brutal car accident, some stunning cinematography and an incredible score come into play which helps the flow of this very slow paced indie flick.
When I say some stunning cinematography, I really mean the best camera work I think I’ve ever seen in any independent film as long as I can remember. Some shots are so visually stimulating it really helps with what this film lacks in dialog and action. Some of this gorgeous camera work could be deemed “filler” though I really felt it worked well with the score to simulate all the emotions surrounding Adam and his phsycological recovery from the accident.
The story is simple, though written masterfully: after the car crash that kills Adam’s girlfriend the whole town vilifies him as a murderer. Adam has no recollection of the accident and must battle his own inner demon along the way to try and remember the details of that fateful day. With some strong racism and hatred, Adam struggles his day to day life while listening to witness testomony during the deposition.
I can only recall 4-5 scenes in this entire film that didn’t have a soundtrack. The score is fantastic, again completely different to that we expect from the indie scene. This, along with the cinematography gives The Deposition a very high quality production value matching almost any of this years biggest blockbuster hits. The small things add up too, like the makeup and VFX of the crash scene were just incredibly well polished and looked like the belonged in a much higher budget movie.
While not giving too many details away, The Deposition is indie film making at it’s finest. It ticks all the right boxes minus one thing. A slightly higher caliber of actors. While the cast do a great job I couldn’t help but think with such a quality editorial / sound / cinematography team, this movie deserved some better acting. Though it wasn’t bad, it just could have been better.
Having recently found out this is Eddie’s first attempt at film making, I’m truly excited as to what he will bring us in the future.
The Deposition: A solid 8/10
Check out www.thedepositionmovie.com for more information and upcoming screening information and go see this flick!
