“You’re like art defenders… you ever see that movie, Monuments Men?” While I didn’t like George Clooney’s WWII drama, I did love it being referenced in the film, Project Space 13 (2021), spoken by an artist character named Nate (Keith Poulson) who is describing how he views the two heavily armed private security guards, Ace (Theodore Bouloukos), a middle aged conspiracy theorist, and Evan (Hunter Zimny), a young, aimless dude, who have been hired to protect a New York gallery in Soho. Nate is self-imprisoned in a cage within the gallery and being fed and tortured by a robot as a performance art piece of endurance. The set-up of the movie is like a play. The guards are protecting the gallery for one night when riots are happening outside in the wave of COVID panic and absent police – and thus the guards are stuck inside, spending time with Nate who condescends and argues with them about their place in the system. The trio bicker, they monologue, they receive increasingly emphatic phone calls from the gallery owner Pieter (Jason Grisell) who hired them and is stuck in transit within a limo passing through the riots in an attempt to escape the city for safety. Project Space 13 is a hilarious micro-budget NY indie satire shot during the pandemic in a couple of days. Even though it takes place basically shot in one room for an hour running time, DP Sean Price Williams (Good Time, Her Smell) works his magic by making everything beautifully lit and visually dynamic within the digital video aesthetic. Director Michael M. Bilandic, who wrote the script, has a great handle on tone – the satire is both grounded and heightened, which all of the actors perform winningly and keep in balance, feeling both realistic and funny at the same time. Alongside Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, this is one of the better movies shot during the COVID era that references its ongoing impact. I was laughing solidly throughout. I definitely want to catch up with Bilandic’s previous movies now (Hellaware, Jobe’z World). Project Space 13 is available to stream on Mubi in Australia. Recommended.
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