I will begin my critique with this disclaimer: David Warfield, director and writer of Rows, is a professor of mine at Morgan State University.
There's an art to making a cinematic and effective trailer without giving much of the plot away or without giving all the best scenes. Some trailers spoil the film, and some trailers just can't seem to present anything enticing.
I was invited to a film screening a classmate of mine, Gus, was hosting the weekend before finals. Although Papa Johns would've sufficed, Gus ordered pizza from Two Boots, a pizzeria located in Mt. Royal, and bought the movie on iTunes. From the trailer presented in class, I just knew the film was going to be about some insane killer. Using enough quick cuts to make the eye go crazy, we get various scenes of murder, white girls once again going places they probably shouldn't, and big mysterious houses that might as well say "Enter and Die."
But, the film is none of that.
And the film is all of that. All at the same time.
Rows takes the normal suspense film and puts a remarkably conceptual twist on it. It's almost as if Warfield invoked Rod Serling and couldn't sleep so he wrote a movie. We meet Rose (Hannah Schick), a woman who's father tasks her to give an eviction notice to an older woman in a scary house. Rose meets the woman to deliver the papers, and, stupidly, takes a treat from her with causes her to hallucinate. From this point on, the movie starts getting interesting as Rose, her friend Greta (Lauren Lakis), and other characters begin in this wild adventure surrounding the rows of cornfield around the house.
Understanding the movie really takes watching the whole thing closely and carefully. The visual concept of the film is stunning, with the backdrop of the endless cornfield trapping the viewer both visually and emotionally. The movie seemed to be more focused on the storytelling than deep character development, but the characters do play a strong part in the storytelling of the film. But if anything, the film, like the trailer, represented a wonderful craft in saying what needs to be said without saying too much. The dialogue is effective and the exposition is handled with finesse. Its a lesson in saying the most while writing the least, making the film a visually satisfying piece. There's not even a lot of action, but the suspense and the buildup keeps the engagement. What's happening to Rose? What's with the cornfield? Why hasn't Rose killed Greta, considering the many opportunities to do so?
Warfield's Rows uses suspense and surrealism to tell an intriguing story of why you shouldn't evict old ladies who live alone in old houses. Or maybe it's a story in why you should probably reconsider your father's advice when he tells you to face your fears. Either way, the film and the trailer represent a careful attention to dialogue and storytelling, which is what film must be about, otherwise it's a cinematography reel.
Visit the website for the movie here.