Anton (Nathan Barillaro) is an aspiring filmmaker who decides to cast himself as the lead in his upcoming movie. The result is that he increasingly struggles to differentiate between reality and fiction. 

A low-budget indie from writer/director/star Nathan Barillaro, Metaffliction is a feature-length student film that recently had its premiere on Kentucker Audley's NoBudge Films website. 

Barillaro, an aspiring filmmaker from Melbourne, Australia, is a promising filmmaker and Metaffliction does a terrific job of riding the indie vibe without ever coming off as pretentious or irritatingly indie. A good amount of the credit for that success goes to Barillaro himself, whose laid back and winning performance as Anton is more solid than one might expect from an indie director wearing multiple hats ona  film. That can be a recipe for disaster, but it works well for Metaffliction. While the film has a lighter vibe throughout much of its 81-minute running time, it also possesses quite a few moments that are genuinely touching and the film's entire ensemble cast does a nice job of finding just the right balance. 

In addition to Barillaro's solid performance, the film benefits from fine turns by Lucas Linehan, Sophia Black and Pete Black among others. D.P. Tom Swinburn's lensing is pristine, a rather remarkable achievement for a low-budget student indie, while Barillaro and Swinburn co-edit the film to tremendous effect. 

Fortunately, this promising indie effort is already available for viewing on the NoBudge website and it's definitely worth your time to check it out and see an up-and-coming filmmaker. 

© Written by Richard Propes 
The Independent Critic