Mahogany Sunrise (2014) Reviews

• I simply cannot understand the hate this movie is getting. It is a solid neo-noir/romance

  AdamJeal2015-09-14

  I saw this film's international premiere at the 6th UCFF Film Festival in Dublin, Ireland yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I do however believe that the production company that the director Scott Leisk partnered with in order to get the film made and distributed (Mutt Productions), have short changed the material by heavily pushing the action movie angle for nakedly commercial reasons. The marketing artwork and the new title (the original title was the much better, 'Mahogany Sunrise') betray what this movie ultimately is at it's core, and that is a character driven, romantic neo-noir adventure. Those expecting a straight forward action shoot-em up would no doubt be disappointed. This is NOT that movie. Although it utilizes a store of different genre tropes, it at least uses them in interesting ways. The director said at the Q & A that the total budget including cash and favors amounted to about $65,000.00. Knowing what it takes to make a movie myself, I thought that they managed to get maximum bang for their buck - It is all on screen! I cannot accept some of the above comments about the casting. Really? The quality of the performers are one of the movie's strongest suits and the characters are believable across the board. Yes we may have seen these type of characters before, but the key thing about noir's & neo-noirs is that the characters are all meant to be desperately flawed in some way, or if you are being unkind you would say that they are 'stupid, greedy and endlessly needy' people doing dumb things and making a thousand wrong decisions which look absurd to the audience. What audiences need to try and understand is that it is an essential element of all good noirs/neo-noirs that the characters suffer from these critical lacks of self-awareness because if they didn't go bumbling repeatedly into these kind of situations, then they just wouldn't be 'noir' enough! - and make no mistake, 'Mahogany Sunrise' is a highly accomplished low budget noir. Apparently, the incoherence that was refereed to in one of the previous reviews was partially down to the removal of a key scene, which the producers removed for 'commercial' reasons. I have since watched the scene in question on vimeo and I hope that Scott manages to get his "Director's Cut' out there. It deserves to be seen as it was initially intended, but even in this compromised state, the film is highly entertaining with no slack. However, I personally wished that it was longer, because in this particular case, it needed to be.

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• Solid Local Debut

  benwa-335582015-07-17

  Scott Leisk and Mutt Productions pull off a gritty film with a Texas cast and crew that make Gang Money Run work as intended. Wesley Blake's portrayal of Jackson Schultz lets us know right away he is out of his element as his uncomfortable journey to the dark side evolves into a 24-hour fight to survive. Denise Downs shows a bit of diversity when at one moment she is a damsel in distress and in another standing up to the unpleasant father of her child who is a bato from the hood. Jesse Campos looks to have had lots of fun playing Chato. This gang leader is one whose side we want to be on a couple of times during the movie. The biggest surprise here were the nuggets of humor the flashed in and out of the movie. Overall, the shoestring budgeted film shot right here in San Antonio makes it a first-time worthy effort to those involved. It may not win an Oscar but its a slightly dark, albeit enjoyable, ride.

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• Silly fun with a slight spoiler alert.

  nvgsimguy-713502015-07-05

  I enjoyed this film. It was quite funny. I'm not sure it was supposed to be as funny as it is, but it ended up that way. I think Chato could use some range time with the way he shoots during the big gun battle in the parking lot. I was rolling on the floor. Morrison ended up right where he needed to end up just like a little baby. My only real complaint was that a lot of the lighting was just too dark. You couldn't see the actors acting. Their faces are their paint brushes and when you can't see them you loose something. I'd rent it again just for the Menudo scene. Larry Sands was a real crack-up. Wesley Blake seemed very natural in his part as did Jesse Campos. Denise Downs was a bit whiny for my tastes and she could have used some dancing lessons. This was a lot of fun to watch for an indie film since they tend to mostly be about some issue these days.

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• Amazing movie!!

  jessicadekoter2018-12-22

  This move is so amazing! It's a great story. Writer/director R.Scott Leisk is an amazing person and he did a great job!! I love this movie!!

• Inside opinion

  nrs-222692016-01-18

  First off, I enjoyed this movie. Disclaimer * - Too many posts are written "anonymously" when in actuality the author was involved with the film, or had personal experiences with individuals involved with the film. With this in mind, I would like to disclose that I personally know an individual involved in the making of this film. It should be known that Denise Downs, the actress playing Mercedes, was placed in a situation where she ethically could no longer work on this project, despite attempts to resolve any issues. Subsequently, her voice was replaced by another individual many times throughout the film. Any discrepancies should be noted. Additionally, in the scene where Mercedes was performing her burlesque routine, the song used for the filming and choreography was replaced after her departure from this project. The song used in the actual film therefore does not match her dance routine.

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