Bright (2011) Online

I recently had the chance to watch BRIGHT at the Magnolia Independent Film Festival- one of several festivals was screening at in mid February 2011 as it began its tour on the festival circuit.

From the first frame to the last, this film is a cinematographic feast. Rich visuals support a skilled writing hand, and experienced direction in this longer than normal short film. It's length however, is not a detriment. The story takes as long to tell as it needs to and the running time felt perfect.

The acting is performed with such natural, believable deliveries that, as a viewer, you often feel like a fly on the wall witnessing the true lives of real people. Sometimes you will laugh with the characters, and at other times you will feel their pain, and ultimately their redemption.

BRIGHT, for me, is about the fear of living and coming to terms with that fear. It is something many people can identify with, and I highly recommend catching as it continues touring at film festivals.

This is a brilliant and sophisticated short film showing the vivid struggle of a young man overcoming his most terrifying fear. The film doesn't tell the story, it shows the story, giving credit to the audience for having the intelligence to follow a tightly bound script. Nothing is rushed, and the director is unafraid of using silence at times, without feeling the need to fill the heavy weight of that silence with unnecessary dialog. The true nature of the main character's fear is magnified by this quiet, and this even pulls at the viewer's own fears. I found it very effective.

The performance of the main character (played by Eric Nenninger) is subtle, and honest, without being overly emotive. There is a lot more scope to his story arc than can be shown in a short film, and a part of me would love to see a feature length version of Bright. But it also resides very well within the realm of the short film genre, because the viewer is allowed to fill in the rest of the story with their own imagination, making Bright unique to each person who sees it.

What struck me most was the artistry of the cinematography. Each scene seems to be so well crafted, and almost every frame would make a beautiful still photograph. This speaks volumes for the talent of writer/director Benjamin Busch, who closely choreographed every facet of Bright. The cast and crew obviously deserve a lot of credit too.

I highly recommend Bright, and hope it gets picked up by HBO or the Independent Film Channel so that more people may get to see it!

Troy, played by Eric Nenniger, clings on to a feeling. We all do it or have at some point in our lives. We all think, "If I could just stay like this forever, I'd be alright." There is something fundamental about time and life that makes this not only impossible, but also foolish to attempt. "Bright" is an intelligent film that is often poetic, funny, and moving. With an excellent cast including Robert Wisdom, Glynn Turman, and the director himself Benjamin Busch, we follow Troy into a psychological crisis. Troy's surrogate father(/mother) Irwin, played by Robert Wisdom, attempts to help the young man realize he must leave his nest to grow, to survive. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I had with these characters and the visual world they live in. Even the blind man lives with a certain kind of visual memory. At some moments it is downright beautiful.

A great film creates its audience. From the opening scene, it tells you how to feel, how to think, how to want the next thing coming. It shapes your reactions, so that by the end of the experience, you have been turned into someone different. Most films don't accomplish this or anything close. Most let us be ourselves—the same humans that walked into the theater before the lights went down. And the few films that do manage to impact our sensibilities are usually long and demanding. They're big films in every respect. But here's Bright. It's a forty minute excursion. There's you before the film, and there's you after it.

The story is simple. Troy (Eric Nenninger) has grown up within the safety of Irwin's home. We know nothing of Troy's past—only that he showed up years ago, frightened and alone, in Irwin's store and has never left. Irwin took him in and treated him as his own son. Now, as an adult, Troy refurbishes lamps. He works on and inside of artificial light. He has never seen the stars. He has never ventured back into the world. On the face of it, Troy is an agoraphobe. He is comfortable only in the warm amber of his tiny studio. And even though he's an adult, he's pre-gender. He's not exactly effeminate, but he's not masculine either. He wears a woman's coat with a frilly collar, and he fusses over lampshades and light fixtures.

Irwin (Robert Wisdom), an older blind man, understands that Troy has to face the world. He urges him to "take a vacation." And we realize the heft of Irwin's suggestion. We feel the angst. Nenninger's character doesn't have to tell us or anybody in the film about that angst. We see it in his jaw and forehead. We want him to stay with Irwin, in his tiny crowded room. But we know that he cannot.

On one hand, Bright is entirely realistic. The characters are all awake, walking in real places, dealing with one another in conventional ways, but throughout, you wonder if you're in some spiritual dimension—not because of plot tricks, narrative hiccups, zany characters, or the like, but because of the tonality. Like a Borges or Marquez story, Bright hums with other-worldliness. Maybe it's the spare and poetic dialog, or the soft meditative music, or the way the camera almost swims through the air.

For film buffs, Bright is a study in cinematography. Every scene is dramatic and lush. Some moments are dazzling—such as when Troy takes a slow freight elevator up several floors and the sun explodes repeatedly over his shoulder. And the colors are so intense that they're almost characters themselves.

After I've read or seen something really good, I'm never sure how to respond when someone asks, "What's it about?" Years ago, after I finished 100 Years of Solitude, I gave up trying to explain and just said, "It's about time." If I had to say what Bright is about, I'd say, "It's about color," which sounds tricky and evasive. But the film is neither. It's not smug or self-congratulatory. It's clean and elemental. It's not an artistic bully. It's not waving its arms and trying to impress us, but it is undoubtedly impressive. In the same way that your memory clings to Van Gogh's fantastic yellows or Botero's bold faces, Bright will stay with you. You will remember the faces of the characters and the sharp moments of insight. And when the orange light goes out at the end, you will want it back.

A fabulous journey into the mind, into the soul, into the past and into the future await the unsuspecting viewer. Ben Busch gently guides you into the serene, yet troubled world of a man/child who seeks the comfort of his childhood but finds himself in the harsh bright light of reality. It is a reality he tries hard to avoid facing. Ben Busch has produced on a shoestring budget a real masterpiece. It beautifully draws you to the key characters and gradually exposes each of their greatest fears, and their strengths. The dialogue is taut and poetic, the direction is smooth and flowing, the production qualities are impressively professional for such a low-budget film. This film deserves a large audience and this filmmaker, actor, director and writer deserves a shot at a big project. He captures his audience like few I have have ever seen.

We watched BRIGHT with our 13 year old daughter who was extremely moved by the film, as were we. The message of the film is very personal and powerful: that we need to leave our safe worlds, face our fears, and go and search for our lives. Only in this way will we become strong and grow into the full, multi-faceted and complex individuals that we have the potential to be. This overarching theme is artfully developed on several different levels throughout the film, both through the storyline and the beautiful use of symbols. But the reason this film succeeds is that the actual story line is extremely compelling and we are left guessing throughout the film as to the "real" story behind the characters. In short, we are left wanting more. Thank you for a beautiful film. Karen Puschel

I really liked this film. The writing is elegiac and the directing elegant. Though a short movie, the performances are never rushed and the actors are given the space to take ownership of the moments. As a result the story accrues a deep emotional resonance.

Robert Wisdom is fantastic, digging in to create a rich and complex character. And Eric Nenninger's work as the central character carefully avoids the typical (read: banal) quirks and tics that are usual employed to indicate a character is damaged in some way and instead brings someone very real and captivating to life. the And any time one gets to see Andre Royo on film is a gift.

A wonderful debut(?) for director/writer Benjamin Busch who subtle writing is not without little gems of poetry.

Of all the aspirations within the ambit of cinema, few seem as elusive - and none, perhaps these days, as rare - as poetry. How refreshing, then, to come upon a modest, beautifully rendered, unabashedly romantic celebration of the non-prosaic. Propelled by a series of gentle, intelligent performances from a game cast (Eric Nenninger's focused economy is particularly effective), BRIGHT is a 40 minute contemplation, it might be said, of the negotiation of fear. Though occasionally text-heavy, writer/director Ben Busch's film is a welcome reminder that creative ambition can indeed be tasteful, and though - to paraphrase Oscar Wilde - we are all in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars.

There's a REASON why "Bright" took "Best of Show" in this year's Tupelo Film Festival: It is, quite simply, a flash of great ideas and execution. The story is richly-layered, the script eloquent and original. Writer/Director Benjamin Busch has crafted a short film so well developed that it has the story appeal of a longer film without needless exposition. More to the point, you can't help but be drawn in by its multifaceted story because it appeals on so many levels -- intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and visual. The relationship between "Bright"'s central characters -- "Troy" and "Irwin" (played by Eric Nenninger and Robert Wisdom) -- is absolutely multidimensional. Armando Ballesteros' cinematography easily captures the archetypal spirit of this fine script. Editor Frank Reynolds' disciplined hand is evident throughout. Even Benjamin Keddy's minimalist score plays a huge role in its own way. There's more to this film than meets the eye -- "Bright" is a brilliant work -- and that's exactly the point. Overlook this film at your own peril, lest you find yourself in the dark without an Edison bulb to guide you back home.

As a film festival director who has watched literally thousands of film submissions, both short and feature- length, it's rare that I see a film with perfect pacing, but Bright makes that grade even though its pacing is measured and deliberate. Some might describe it as slow, and yet our screening committee found it a great pleasure, in this day of frenetic films, to be able to absorb the carefully constructed imagery and to digest the dialogue. So many of those images remain in the mind's eye even a year later – the sensuous orange peel, the glowing incandescent filament of a light bulb, Robert Wisdom's inward-looking gaze. It almost goes without saying that the cast, led by Eric Nenninger, is superb; each actor digs into the meaty script and wrings subtle, deeply felt emotions from it.

Benjamin Busch has been a favorite at Landlocked Film Festival since we got to know him through his earlier (also excellent) film, Sympathetic Details. It's been a pleasure to watch his growth as a writer and director.

The extinguished filament that closes the film leaves an afterimage that transforms the film into an allegory of light and dark, fear and courage, and how we form bonds with others, drawing courage and light from them. Speaking for myself, I give it my highest recommendation as a film worth seeing and a story worth telling.

The Hamilton International Film Festival, run by Slater Brothers Entertainment, was pleased to welcome Benjamin Busch and his film, Bright, to their annual film festival this past summer in Hamilton, New York. The Award Winning short film received a standing ovation and was one of the key shorts that played at the festival. The film was incredibly well done with acting performances that are truly memorable. The film played incredibly well and the story was both thought provoking and touching. Special attention should be placed on Busch's directing ability. The cinematography was beautiful as where many of the set ups throughout the film. The festival was thrilled to have the film in attendance.

Describing the essential requirements of a "skillful literary artist," Edgar Allan Poe wrote in a review of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Tales from an Old Manse": "The unity of effect or impression is a point of great importance... without a certain continuity of effort--without a certain duration or repetition of purpose--the soul is never deeply moved." Every moment, Poe said, must be "conceived, with deliberate care, (to create) a certain unique or single effect."

Benjamin Busch has created such a work of art with his short film "Bright," about Troy (Eric Nenninger) a young man who must overcome a paralyzing fear in order to move forward with his life. Every moment in the film is skillfully and deliberately planned to create a particular effect in the viewer. The film establishes a rich atmosphere from its opening moments and is filled with symbolic imagery, especially regarding light. Troy is raised by a blind adoptive father, Irwin (Robert Wisdom), who represents the iconic blind sage of mythology and guides Troy on what turns out to be a spiritual journey. Irwin is blind, but he can "see"; Troy is sighted, but his back is always toward the light.

In this dystopian future, Troy works as a restorationist, helping people regain their sense of continuity with their past by finding old-style original light bulbs for their homes. This is, of course, a metaphor for the conflict between what is natural and what is artificial, what is light and what is dark, in the search for courage and meaning in life.

The pacing is deliberately slow, filmed at "the pace of real thought," according to director Busch, who wants viewers to have the time to hear the dialog. As a result, viewers can contemplate philosophically meaty lines like "There's danger in all this safety"... "Someone who never sees, never knows"... "I miss the light but I can remember it"..."I loved and I lost, and I'm glad that I loved"... and "How much would you pay to be happy?"

"Bright" won the 2011 award for Best Short Drama and the Audience Choice Award at the Anthem Libertarian Film Festival.It is a film to be seen with friends, and discussed in long leisurely conversations afterward. As Poe said of Hawthorne's "Tales," "withal is a calm astonishment that ideas so apparently obvious have never occurred or been presented (like this) before." I think Poe would have been pleased with "Bright."

I have had the great fortune of watching Bright a number of times over the past few weeks (volunteering as a film programmer at Traverse City Film Festival). Each time I watch it, it gets better, as I am drawn in by Busch's unique layering of thought-provoking messages shrouded in a spectacular aesthetic.

On a mere $10,000 budget, the film puts many recent Blockbusters to absolute shame. Great credit must go to Bright's production and pre-production crew for creating such a beautiful piece. The editing in particular, with each cut timed to perfection, adds to the magical and exploratory tone of the film's journey.

A magnificent array of actors perform in the most human of character-roles. Each character, no matter how small a role offers something different. Every part, without exception aids the shaping of Bright's narrative. A truly awesome display of character-development considering the short's length - something Busch obviously pays particular attention to, being an actor himself.

Days later and I am still finding myself drifting in and out of the world Busch has created in this breathtaking short. I wish the film and Busch all the best on the festival circuit and I eagerly await his following releases.

I had the honor of seeing this film at a film fest party and being able to meet Benjamin Busch himself, He presented his experience of working with the film, and after we finished it he explained the methodology and symbolism behind it.

speaking of symbolism, one thing that irritates me is when critics, professors or philosophers try to find symbolism in everything and preach it like it's the gospel. Bright manages to portray its symbolism without being pretentious- pretentiousness and forced beliefs is why I typically avoid "inspirational" movies, and I'm glad bright manages to be natural and thoughtful in it's symbolism.

The reason I would liken bright to dark chocolate, is because both are enjoyed the same way. You don't simply swallow the chocolate, you let it simmer in your mouth and just take in the flavor. I admit, I would have to watch bright again to really take in all the details- and I really would like to watch it again sometime.

all in all I find bright to be a very enjoyable movie, although there are a few instances of swearing (infrequent but predictable for those who are concerned), I would recommend bright for viewers of all ages regardless.

I can't remember the last time I've seen such a truly poetic film – virtually every frame and every line of dialogue comes off as unbelievably precise composition. The acting across the board feels very "lived in," nuanced in a natural way. Nenninger (Troy) is a quiet force: he keeps his fears and loss bottled-up in a taut physicality, and only through his eyes can we get a sense of the emotional turbulence within. Robert Wisdom (Irwin) wonderfully inhabits the complex father (/mother) figure to Troy's lost child, urging his surrogate son to muster the courage to journey into the harsh light—and sometimes darkness—of the real world.

There's a lot of trust here on the part of writer/director Benjamin Busch—a trust in the viewers to engage themselves with the film and work to fill out the narrative, or rather, what's going on beneath the given narrative. Bright is a bit of an iceberg: we're given a straightforward drama on the surface, with a whole lot of seriously weighty matter floating underneath. It'll stick with you long after the final shot, leaving you thinking about your own fears, your own piece of childhood that you may keep alive without even knowing it, about the pools of light and darkness in our lives and how we navigate between them. Bright is an intensely contemplative film and its pace reflects this, but if you allow yourself the time and effort to deeply breath it in, you'll be richly rewarded.

Busch has crafted a profoundly resonant short, and on a shoestring no less. I can only imagine how dangerous he'd be with some money for a feature. Definitely catch this on the festival circuit if you can.

Of the countless short films I've watched both at festivals and as the shorts programmer for the Little Rock Film Festival, BRIGHT is one of my very favorites. It is that rare film that takes full advantage of every element at its disposal. From thoughtful, poetic writing, to powerhouse performances from Robert Wisdom and Eric Nenninger, to meticulous mise en scene, beautiful colors, and impressively effective camera-work. It uses every minute allotted to a "short" but you will be too absorbed to notice them go by.

The story is compelling, but each scene invites your imagination beyond the boundaries of the narrative. BRIGHT does not merely hold up to repeat viewings, it benefits from them. Do not miss a chance to see it on a big screen while it is still playing festivals.

As the Executive Director of the Geneva Film Festival, I recently had the privilege to screen "Bright" at this year's event. Not only was it an audience favorite, "Bright" won the award for Best Narrative Short Film.

Hypnotic and beautiful to watch, "Bright" is a masterfully crafted film. The writing is thoughtful and intelligent. Refusing to take the viewer by the hand to spell out important plot points, it cleverly threads them throughout the script at a pace that never feels forced. The performances ring honest and true, especially those by Robert Wisdom and Eric Nenninger. They captivate us with subtle, yet poignant portrayals of men with a deep and complex history. The result is an emotional journey leaving us wanting to know more.

Writer/Director Benjamin Busch has put together a brilliant, albeit short, cinematic gem: A gem worthy of seeking out and experiencing for oneself.