Running Time (film)

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Running Time
Directed by	Josh Becker
Produced by	Josh Becker Jane Goe
Written by	Josh Becker Peter Choi
Starring	Bruce Campbell Jeremy Roberts Anita Barone
Music by	Joseph LoDuca
Cinematography	Kurt Rauf
Editing by	Raymond Berthaud Kaye Davis
Release date(s)	1997
Running time	70 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Running Time is a 1997 independent film written, produced & directed by Josh Becker. Principal cast members are Bruce Campbell, Jeremy Roberts and Anita Barone.

The movie is of particular interest for two points. First, it was filmed in real time similar to Robert Wise's noir boxing film The Set-Up (1949). Secondly it also tracks as a continuous take with no cuts, rather like Hitchcock's Rope (1948). For esthetic and practical reasons Becker opted for black & white, offering a neo-Noir feel and giving him less problems in scene transitions. One truly has the sense that you are following the action, uninterrupted for the entire 70 minutes.

[edit] Plot

A prison inmate (Campbell) receives early release only to immediately rejoin his former criminal cohorts in a heist. In the hour or so he rekindles a romance with an old flame (Barone) and realizes the "good ol' days" with his partner in crime (Roberts) just might not have been so good.

The acting is fine for such an unassuming tale, with the leads seemingly enjoying themselves with the material. No one is trying to convince you they're in a blockbuster, or for that matter, an art-house piece. The brevity fits the material, giving enough time for the story to be told and yet not so long for the idiosyncractic use of time and movement to become annoying or passe. Overall it stands as an interesting little representative of Film Noir and resourceful independent film-making.