Pickings (4/5)

Pickings is so much more than what should be possible. It may be low budget but it has extremely high production value. Both sound and image quality is beyond impressive. Also, the story is a crazy ride!

Somehow the passionate forces behind Pickings manage to eliminate 99% of these issues. In fact, this movie has higher production value than some of the major studio productions we’ve watched.

Pickings also offers up some intriguing characters. They range from being both complex and difficult to offering pure comic relief. One of the brilliant perks of making a movie in the style of a comic book adventure.

Think Sin City style while also remaining true to its own story.

You can watch the trailer for Pickings right here or continue reading our review below.

The perfect soundtrack

I’m the kind of movie watcher that loves music as well. Not only do I love a well-placed song in a movie, I also adore scores. Yes, I’m the kind of person who listens to scores and won’t shut up about how brilliant they are.

Check out our reviews for The Boy or 10 Cloverfield Lane for further reference – both have scores by Bear McCreary, who is one of my favorites.

For Pickings, the person responsible for the music is one of its stars: Katie Vincent. If it wasn’t because she was a great part of the cast, I would say she should do soundtracks and music from here on out. But hey, when you can do both, then please, do both.

The score for Pickings is a sort of spaghetti western style but mixed up with beautiful songs that help underline the plot. I’m very rarely impressed by a score for low-budget movies. It simply isn’t something that usually works so well, but this really does.

Without it, the comic book style and off-beat characters may even have fallen a bit flat.

Elyse Price steals the show

There are so many awesome female characters in Pickings that it’s almost too much to handle. Just kidding, it’s absolutely perfect. And especially Elyse Price in the lead role of Jo is the kind of character you cannot get enough of.

Yes, Jo (Elyse Price) is the character who won me over to the entire movie in the opening scene. When she kicks ass, you just want to sit back and take notes. And – very importantly – she does also manage to mess up a few times. Nobody’s perfect in Pickings, but that’s the point; Nobody ever is!

It’s almost a trope, but this character really does remind me of both Alien’s Ellen Ripley and Terminator‘s Sarah Connor. We’re talking serious bad-ass and we get to see her be both a loving mother and a vengeful one.

Also, for good measure, there are brilliant male characters in the movie as well. Seriously, these characters are all entertaining and offer up either real depth or important entertainment value.

Please, can we have more?

For the record, let me just state that there are no bad actors and no boring characters in Pickings. Everyone deserves to be there and brings something to the table. Especially Joel Bernard gave us one of the best male characters in the movie.

Usher Morgan wrote and directed Pickings and I am thrilled to see he already has another movie on the way. Unfortunately, it’s “just” a short film. Now, I do love short films, but I would also love to see another feature film from him.

Then again, the upcoming short film stars Elyse Price and Katie Vincent, who both starred in Pickings, so I’ll take whatever is offered.

Hopefully, we’ll get this entire crew back together again – including more original music by Katie Vincent.

For that to happen, people need to watch Pickings, so let this be your wake-up call. You do not want to sleep on this awesome indie film any longer. Watch it now and enjoy how much you can do when you bring the right talent onboard.

Pickings was released in limited theaters March 2, 2018.

Details

Director: Usher Morgan
Writer: Usher Morgan
Cast: Elyse Price, Katie Vincent, Joel Bernard, Lily Brooks O’Briant, Michelle Holland, Reese Grande, Lynne Jordan, Yaron Urbas

Plot

When a short-tempered mobster and his gang of thugs try to shake down a neighborhood bar, they’re soon confronted with the wrath of its owner – a mysterious southern mother with a dangerous past.