Movie Review : "The SLG Monty"

Cast : Stefan Ewald, Erik Sevenants, Gil Perrone, Mike Smyth, Mark Hennenfent

Duration : 3 minutes, 47 seconds

Rating : PG-50

Fan Reviews : 0





On Saturday, April 19th, I had the privilige to attend a private screening of this short film by the up and coming cinematographer Helena Hungar.

The film is the story of 5 competive long distance runners, who want to break out of the monotony of logging hundreds of miles of training for yet another marathon by taking on an even bigger challenge for them, namely stripping at high end parties. What we witness here is their first public appearance at the 50th birthday party of their running coach, Lief Sannen.

The film has a very contemporary feel. The jumpy nature of the images betrays a purposely hand held camera and the photography being dark and gritty gives the whole movie the seedy atmosphere that is usually associated with strippers.

The acting is terrific. Although one might think that the cast's moves are unrehearsed and out of sync, after a couple of viewings it becomes clear that the choreography is purposely set up this way to put every member in the spot light.

A few things stand out about the five actors. Carefull evaluation of the performance show that Hennenfent is the silent yet forceful captain of the team, leading the performance forward without ever becoming overbearing.

Members in the audience were unanimous that, although Perrone definitely has the best body, Sevenants has the most talent to go far in this line of work. Interviews with people who have known Erik in a more personal way said they were not surprised by that statement.

Smyth needs some coaching with his footwork at crucial points in the routine.

And then there is Ewald's performance. Although he is obviously a very important part of the team, one almost has the impression he had a deal with Ms. Hungar to be left out of most frames! What does this handsome man have to be insecure about?

The one detraction in the production could be the soundtrack. The routine is set to Joe Cocker's version of Randy Newman's "You can leave your hat on", but is overshadowed most of the time by whooping from the audience, which is appropriate, but also by wild laughter from what seems to be the cinematographer. One can only assume that this was due to nerves and inexperience by this young yet extremely talented film maker.

No date for wide release of this production has been set, maybe the producers are delaying to get closer to the award season. Rumors has it that DVD's will be available in the next few weeks.
Rumor has it that there is more film material available about this group of runners/actors. Apparently a movie made on November 4th, 2007 at SLG headquarters shows club trophees being awarded. It gives validity to the statement that this fine group of people is truly multi talented. Hopefully we will have a chance to see this film as well.


Audience at the private screening,
Saturday, April 19th, 2008
Photo : Sannen