14 Days (2015) – By Misty Layne


Written and directed by Joseph Villapaz, “14 Days” is the story, or rather several stories, of a diverse cast of characters, dealing with life changing issues, in a series of vignettes, tied together by the location they all pass through. As with most vignette told films, some of these stories were good and some just seemed like filler, but overall, it mostly ties itself together. In particular, my two favorites are actually what I would consider the “main” storylines – one about a pair of investigative agents and the other about a race of aliens. Yep, kind of opposite ends of the spectrum there but it works.

What didn’t really work was the first part of the vignette involving a woman named June and her husband, purely because of bad staging. The actors were just at such awkward angles and the edits there were just too jumpy. I couldn’t concentrate on what was actually happening because of it. (And, I do want to point out, not the actors’ faults. They were fine – it was their blocking that was all wrong). I did, however, enjoy the second part of this vignette. The one other vignette that I just found utterly useless involved a purse snatcher and was just overdone and melodramatic. I know it technically had a purpose in the story (to get from point A to point B) but the transition was rough. Other than that, there were just a couple of incidences of the boom (or some other piece of equipment) coming just barely into frame.

Overall, the acting was good. The couple of special effects were handled well. The editing needs improvement but it was still better than a lot of other films I’ve seen. And gosh darn it, I just really liked the story. It was surprisingly uplifting, considering the investigative agents and sci-fi alien part and the death and the thief…no really, I swear, it’s actually more happy-making than it sounds. I was more than pleasantly surprised by this film and frankly, I love when a film pops up and catches me off guard like this one did. Kudos to Mr. Villapaz. Some technical work needed maybe but good actors and a good story make for a fine film.

Check out “14 Days” on IMDB or go here to see the trailer!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4104212
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noPAo9Qmg8Q