WOMAN X
Writer / Director: Evan Richards
Producer: Ronnie Bloch
Psychological Thriller.
Shot on location in London.
Format: Super 35mm
Starring: Simon Wilson, Elizabeth Hopley
John Lightbody, Melissa Lloyd
Played over 30 international film festivals and screenings.
Finalist for a BAFTA nomination
Broadcast on HBO and Starz
Distributor Short Films International
REVIEWS
FILMTHREAT.COM by Doug Brunell
If you can find another movie that packs this much style and punch into
fifteen minutes, I'd like to know about it. I doubt it's possible, as this is
about as good as a short film can get.
William (Simon Wilson) works in a bank and dislikes people, especially homeless
ones. His refusal to give the street beggars money comes back to bite his Brit ass
one night when a woman (Elizabeth Hopley) he once pushed aside brutalizes him and
robs his 75 pounds. (Details of the attack aren't necessary, but it does involve
testicles and one very tightly clenched fist.)
This woman later reappears in William's life, and his once forgotten fantasies of
revenge are rekindled.
Evan Richards scored big here. Shot on 35mm in London, this short film continues
the grand tradition of English crime movies. And while it plays well at 15 minutes,
it could easily be expanded into a full-length feature and probably should be at
some time. These are great characters with a wealth of potential, and it sure beats
the hell out of most of the guano passed off as crime/revenge flicks that come out of
America.
NEW HAVEN ADVOCATE by K.C. & C.G.
An amusing short about a retentive bastard of a bank manager named William Chesterfield
(played convincingly by Simon Wilson) who is jumped, assaulted and mugged by a pan-handling
woman (Elizabeth Hopley). The film's snappy dialogue and beautifully filmed scenes, (with
attention to detail like the close-up on his slippers pacing hardwood floors while calling
Scotland Yard to report the attack), handsome marble and wood interiors, cool vibes background
music and a heavy dose of double-decker buses zooming by in the street scenes provide a stylish,
mysterious James Bond-like framework for a surprise twist-of-fate run-in with his former assailant
three years later.
HOT DOG MAGAZINE by Tristan Burke
Currently making serious waves all around the festival circuit, writer/director
Evan Richards' short film Woman X is a curiously emasculating affair. A seamlessly woven
blend of black comedy and genuine menace, Woman X certainly marks the spot - and the
imprint is indelible.
A callous banker finds his heartless working routine disturbed when a woman he turned
down for a loan attacks him. He's shaken, his breezy attitude disrupted, and so
spends the vast proportion of his time now replaying the chaos. And then a new
customer's arrival at the bank makes recollection just a tad easier. Simon Wilson
gives his character the requisite complexity to both sympathise and condemn him,
culminating in a wonderful last line that makes you realise the extent of his little
life lesson.
Both for those seeking something original and men secure enough not to feel threatened
by empowered women.