The Stall (2/5)

The Stall has some very important plot elements and works well as a revenge thriller. The storytelling isn’t chronological, however, which doesn’t help the overall experience.

In The Stall, the story is interesting and engaging but told in a way that really doesn’t help it. The characters behave in ways that seem uncharactaristic – or simply unrealistic – from what we’ve learned in the story so far.

However, later on in the movie, we get to understand why. The movie shows us the beginning and then the ending first. And then it finishes by showing us the middle. This can absolutely work but, for me, it just didn’t.

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

A kick-ass woman!

The lead character in this movie is a kick-ass woman. And I do mean this as a huge compliment. This is exactly why I would have preferred to watch the story as a more chronologic story. That way, I could’ve watched her become a total badass.

Instead, we see a character that isn’t exactly brave or feels powerful, who suddenly seems to be very brave and powerful. I miss having the experience of watching her get there. If I had, I would also understand and believe that she felt in control.

It’s sort of like watching a weight loss show, where we get the final result at the beginning. And then get to watch them struggle to get there. It just doesn’t offer the same excitement and punch of “Watch me better myself!”.

It takes a village

We first became aware of The Stall because we reviewed The Dark Military, which had some great elements. For one, the actors seemed to have a blast with many of the off-beat characters. Read our review of The Dark Military here >

The star (and writer-director) of this movie, Jennifer M. Kay, was one of the actors in The Dark Military. So was Loren W. Lepre, who directed it and also stars in The Stall.

I love it when the same people get together and work on these indie projects. Whatever the result, you just know that a lot of love and passion went into each project. And that definitely comes across with The Stall as well.

One woman army

Jennifer M. Kay wrote, directed and stars in The Stall. I love it when moviemakers can take on all these roles, and respect that anyone can. Still, I do wonder if maybe it’s too much to take on everything.

For this particular movie, I think a different editing could have made a huge difference. Then again, I also feel that this style of storytelling was the plan all along. And I certainly understand that they stuck with it.

I would just have loved to watch a different take on it. I think The Stall would’ve hit home for me a lot more.

The potential for interesting and engaging storytelling is clearly there. Of course, Jennifer M. Kay already has more projects in the making as well. And we’ll be sure to check those out when we get the chance.

The Stall is out on AmazonPrime now and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray from March 27, 2018.

Details

Director: Jennifer M. Kay
Writer: Jennifer M. Kay
Cast: Jennifer M. Kay, Tom Schmitt, John DiRenzo, Loren W. Lepre, Melissa O’Donnell, Rachel Mazzagatti, Aimee Theresa

Plot

Can the loss of a loved one be too painful to survive? Surrounded by a series of murders and overcome with despair a young woman struggles to live her life and escape the memories of her past.