"Ape" is a 13-minute live action short film from February 2017, so this one iss not even a year old now and it is the first and so far only writing credit by Joe Johnstone, but the reason why it is so well-known is because it is the first and only directorial effort by successful young American actor Josh Hutcherson that most people these days probably know from the Hunger Games franchise. He also plays the main character, perhaps the title character you could say, a pretty deranged young man really struggling with psychological illness hearing voices that aren't there and seeing people that aren't there all of which may result from a trauma that dates back to his younger years. Things especially go out of hand when he ends up making out with an attractive young friend. All in all, for a first director's work, it wasn't too bad. You can see that Hutcherson learned a lot from the many filmmakers he worked with. His work behind the camera or in front of it aren't the problem here. Neither is that you won't probably recognize any of the other actors. But the major issue here is the story. The plot never drew me in and neither did any of the characters sadly. It is what it is I guess. As part of a full feature film, these slightly over a dozen minutes may have worked. As an individual movie, I cannot say the same. Still from what I saw in here, I am curious about and eager to see Hutcherson's future works behind the camera. This was fairly promising at times here, also from the atmospheric perspective. Still story is key and from that perspective I have to give the overall outcome here a thumbs-down and say that I'd only recommend it to Hutcherson's fans to see. Everybody else can go for something other instead.
Review of Ape
Ape
(2017)
A promising debut held back by a mediocre generic story
24 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers