Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report readers. Thanks to producer Rachel, I was
able to obtain a couple of What Death Leaves Behind: The Kidney. I
first heard about the film from actress Erin O'Brien. I must admit, I had certain ideas about this film before
I watched it, that said, it is nothing at all like I thought. I kind
of was expecting a taught horror, or thriller, instead What Death
Leaves Behind is more of a drama, that delivers a perplexing yet
interesting yarn about a man who receives a kidney, and the moral and
psychological implications.
Khalil McMillan
portrays Jake Warren, a man whose kidneys are failing. He is
shown going to the dialysis center lamenting his place on the kidney
doner list. The list is long, and it is very real sometimes years
have to be waited and quite often the person dies prior to getting
the kidney or whatever organ is needed.
Jake Warren, tries his hardest to maintain a regular HVAC repairman job,
with his wife and child berating the difficulties of dealing with his
increasingly difficult life. Christopher Mann, who is in virtually
every scene of the film really breathes life into the character. The
audience will feel his pain, and the character study in What Death
Leaves Behind is quite masterful.
Above Photo: Cast @ LA theatrical premiere 9-11-19 (Jared Grange, Marlowe Freeman, Johnny Alonso, Amanda Diaz, Erin O'brien. Dennis Jeantet,
Shaira Barton, Vincent Young, Scott Hamilton, Chad Morton (C) 2019 Jones Effects
Jake Warren's wife is played with angst and trepidation by Shaira Barton.
She feels his pain, yet tries to retain some semblance of a normal
life. Shaira really does a nice job, very natural delivery never
overacting, just in the moment of her character, a real life study of
the people affected by this dire health issue.
Eventually Jake has some reoccurring nightmares, a lucid, yet lurid dream of
the people donating the organs meet their demise in horrible ways.
What Death Leaves Behind raises many moral questions, yet never
preaches the answers, the audience is left to decide the course of
action and what is real or what is imagined.
Normally
I do not like ambiguous endings yet this one is finite, yet leaves
open the various possibilities, were these people really murdered or
is it some sick and twisted fantasy, made up for a story of a dying
man?
The
look of the film and quality of filming is very strong. Obviously
this is a lower budget film, yet it never feels cheap. I thought
director Scott A Hamilton got his cast to really emote and accent the
gravity of the plot. There are no divas and no over actors here. Each
person in What Death Leaves Behind is
given a character to work with, and stays firmly within the
parameters. Dialogue is not overly complicated, yet will leave some
questions for the audience to ponder, which is obviously the idea.
Above: Trailer from YouTube
Overall,
What Death Leaves Behind: The Kidney
is not a horror, nor thriller film by any stretch, yet should keep
audiences entertained for the 87 minute length. I feel that the
film's rating should be an 8 out of 10, just make sure that prior to
watching it, you know going in that it is a drama.
Rachel, the producer informed me that the film is currently doing a limited theatrical run in various cities, please point your browser to: https://www.whatdeathleavesbehind.com/in-theaters/
Join the film makers in Miami for a theatrical screening of What Death Leaves Behind October 10th at 8:30pm at the Aventura 24 Theater https://www.tugg.com/events/what-death-leaves-behind-7ppm/checkout
Join the film makers in Miami for a theatrical screening of What Death Leaves Behind October 10th at 8:30pm at the Aventura 24 Theater https://www.tugg.com/events/what-death-leaves-behind-7ppm/checkout
Follow and connect with the film on the official social media pages:
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