The Ellington Kid (2012)
surprised me with its somewhat light-hearted and comedic tone amidst the dark nature of its story. Featuring an interesting non-linear style of narrative and a concise and effective story, I found it to be a welcome departure from the usual 'urban' cinema that has so heavily saturated parts of the British film industry.
As I alluded to previously, the narrative structure of The Ellington kid diverts from what we might typically expect from a short film. The film begins with two friends (Nathan and Beefy) in a kebab shop having a conversation. As Beefy bites into his burger, Nathan laughs, before telling him a story about a kid who got stabbed last month. From here, the film frequently cuts between the 'present' (Nathan telling Beefy the story), and the 'past' (the flashback of the story Nathan is telling). The film ends with a dark - but admittedly funny - twist, with the flashback suggesting Beefy is eating human flesh in his burger.
The first shot of this film is a close up of a man sharpening his knife in the kebab shop. This is immediately foreshadowing the end of the film; the knife acting as 'Chekov's gun' in this opening sequence. The title sequence is followed by a series of static, eye-level shots of Nathan and Beefy's conversation. This not only makes us feel as if we're almost part of the conversation, but the naturalistic nature of these shots places these two friends as being real people within the real world, increasing the sense of verisimilitude. In the flashbacks, there is generally much more kineticism in the camera work, with slow dollys and shaky handheld shots being utilised. This gives the viewer contrasting emotions between the two settings; on the one hand we have the safe, benign cinematography of the conversation, and on the other hand we have the tense, more frantic cinematography of the flashback.
There is not much to say about the mise-en-scene in the Ellington Kid apart from that it is almost entirely designed to create a sense of verisimilitude. It is filmed on location in a real London Kebab shop and in real streets around the area and the costume and props are just what we'd expect. It knows what atmosphere it wants to create and executes it well. The performance is similar; with realistic and convincing performances from all the cast allowing the story to be that bit more immersive.
Sound is used intelligently throughout the film. At the very beginning, the high frequencies of the knife being sharpened cut through our ears and immediately draw our attention to what is on screen. From here sound is largely used to create tension when the gang members are chasing the kid down to finish him off. The soundtrack is used in parallel this entire sequence and it heightens the emotions of the scene. As the tide turns and the kebab shop worker locks the gang members in, the tense music transitions into an almost blissful synth arrangement - giving the audience a sense that this is closure to not only the piece but to the story. Then, as everything is coming to an end, there is an immediate downturn to the music as it becomes harsh and discordant. This lasts only a second before it cuts back to the present, suggesting to the audience very dark took place after the cameras stopped rolling.
The editing in 'The Ellington Kid' varies between sequences of relatively fast paced, jumpy cuts to much slower cuts that seem to linger and often create a greater sense of dread. An example of this is the shot of the kid stumbling into the kebab shop. In comparison to the rest of the film, this is a relatively long and slow take, and this contrast really makes us feel the weight of the moment as we have no idea what might happen next; only that the situation is dire. The film follows the rules of continuity editing - such as the Kuleshov effect when we cut between the shop worker's knife and the gang member's faces - and this adds further to the sense of verisimilitude present throughout the entire film, allowing us to be immersed and believe in the world these character's inhabit.
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