Dealings

Director - Michael S. Rodriguez (Lake of Shadows, Lamb Feed)

Starring - Manuel Ramirez, Artour Pogosian, and Sparkle Soojian

Release Date - 2021

Genre - Crime

Tagline - "Lies, greed, lust, death.  They all must be dealt with"

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Michael S. Rodriguez is an indie filmmaker that has really impressed me over the years.  I've been following his work for several years now and I love watching how much he grows between each short and feature length film he releases.  He's delivered some seriously chilling horror tales along with some sci-fi fun and a few exploitation flicks with all of them receiving positive reviews from me.  When he reached out to me to check out his crime short Dealings I was on board.  I couldn't wait to see what kind of new film he had crafted for us.  Thank you Michael for reaching out!

     Dealings follows a bar owner who keeps his money in a safe in his office.  He hired a private investigator to trail his wife who he suspects is cheating on him.  Once her confirms his suspicions he attempts to coerce the investigator to take her out for a rather large sum.  However, the investigator has already made a deal with the cheating wife to snuff out the bar owner.  The murder quickly spirals out of hands resulting in several double crossings.

     Dealings was a really entertaining short that starts out slow but gains momentum quickly.  As much as I liked it I did find it to be a little too predictable which results in one that doesn't have much replay value.  The acting in this one is great.  The entire cast delivers a fantastic job and everyone really gets into their characters.  The characters are written into the story very well and the cast does a fantastic job making them work.  The story for this one is a straight forward crime thriller that has a fun twist but the film continues to deliver the same twists that you see coming after the first.  It's almost like a rollercoaster the first big drop catches you off guard but you become prepared for the others before it finishes.  I really liked the characters that were written into the story and the setting for the story.  Finally, the film has several deaths scenes.  Most of these are quick and nothing that stands out but Rodriguez made them fun.  The film is more concerned with the story than the red stuff so don't expect a bloodbath.  Overall, Dealings is a short and sweet film with a great cast and a fun story.  It shows how Rodriguez is still growing as a filmmaker and has plenty of stories to tell.  I look forward to his next project and what he brings to the table.  Check it out.