Instant Dads

I went to an Independent film screening premiere last night. When I first finished film school I attended a lot of film openings like this, many of them worked on by fellow graduates and a few that I even did the production or post production audio on. Now, I’m lucky if I am invited to see a truly independent film once a year, so I considered this a big treat. To add to my delight, 2 close friends of mine who composed original music for the film’s score were asked to perform live before the screening.

From the handout provided to guests of the screening:
Plot for Instant Dads
A film about a guy, Steven (who happens to be gay), who’s ex-girlfriend from high school, Nancy, shows up with a surprise, their 10 year old son Luke! Nancy never told Steven that she got pregnant on prom night with his child (the only girl Steven ever slept with by the way). Nancy reappeared in Steven’s life dying of cancer. She informs Steven that her last wish is to have him “the natural father” adopt Luke. WOW what a blow for a guy who is in a relationship with another guy and neither one of them has a clue on how to raise a 10 year old kid! After many talks with his boyfriend Peter, Steven decides that he will make Nancy’s dying wish come true, but NOT without a CRASH COURSE FIRST!

For someone tackling writing, directing, and acting to take on such serious and controversial subject matter was a big risk in my estimation. Instant Dads succeeds on many levels. First the main cast was first rate, especially Dominic Janes who plays Luke. Child actors can be challenging for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being their ability to portray sadness, anger, and uncertainty with a degree of believability. Luke was without a doubt phenomenal. It helped, that Maki writes him to be a wise 10 year old that has had to grow up fast due to his mother’s serious illness. Dominic is being rewarded for his hard work and dedication to his craft, he has a recurring role as Alex Taggart on ER.

The second major success for filmmaker Maki was having Universal studios agree to let him film at their Citywalk. He took advantage of this location using a café, a toy store, and the front of the movie theater for different parts of the film. These authentic locations lent to the overall professional feel of the film. Also Maki’s willingness to use many locations; houses, cars, parks really gave the film an authentic quality that many low budget pictures cannot afford.

You really care about the characters in Instant Dads and this is due to a combination of the script and the actors. This is a cohesive and heartfelt effort from all involved. What I like about the film is although there are many songs and the score is well executed, it is not wall to wall music. In fact, the music is so well integrated into the movie that it contributes to the overall emotion of the piece. Kudos to whoever chooses the placement of the songs since they integrate so well. High praise to my friends who had previously never composed for film, I am thrilled that they were involved in such a superb first effort.