There is a warmth in Melissa Skirboll's short film $13 that immediately draws you in. It's a comfort, really. We're introduced to two women whose names we never learn, though that fact only occurred to me after the closing credits had rolled.
The older of the two, touchingly played by Skirboll, is strolling alongside her niece (Meghan Martin), a recent transplant to New York City. The Hudson River is in the background, though there's simply no question this majestic Hudson assumes the role of a third character in this lovely, emotionally resonant film.
To give you too much about $13 would be unjust. The film, set for its world premiere at the Austin Revolution Film Festival, is a character-driven piece turned into a humanity-driven piece. It's almost miraculous that this story, adapted by Penny B. Jackson and Skirboll based on Jackson's play, actually works.
And yet, work it does.
There are moments in our lives that linger. They can be happy or sad, tragic or exhilarating. Yet, there are those moments that somehow come to define us and these moments follow us whether they come to define us or simply alter our DNA.
The relationship between these two women is profoundly believable, natural and familiar yet never overly familiar nor maudlin. There's no showboating to be found here, instead replaced by quiet and natural truths and an acute awareness that sometimes no matter how much life goes on it doesn't.
I've adored Skirboll's work for a few years now. As both director and actress, Skirboll presents with such quiet vulnerability wrapped not so tightly by determination that one can't help but love her. While her role is quieter, much the same should be said about Meghan Martin. Martin projects a sort of wide-eyed innocence yet also a sure and steady presence. The moments between these two, even in those initially awkward moments of conversation, are so lovely and so powerful and so lingering in my heart even as I write this review.
Bryan Hamilton's lensing for the film is quite lovely, though I suppose it's true that it's pretty darn hard to ruin the Hudson River. Hamilton captures both the fragility and smallness of these two women against this vast, powerful background of great meaning. Louis Robert King's original score for the film is similarly powerful, a musical companion that rides the film's emotional rhythms.
There is more that I could easily say, though to say too much would spoil it for the film's premiere Austin audience. Suffice it to say that $13 is a lovely, beautiful film of quiet power and emotional impact. Skirboll takes a difficult story to tell and handles it with dignity and remarkable tenderness. Destined to be popular at Austin and beyond, $13 is for sure a film to look for on the indie fest circuit as the film's journey begins.
Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
