Freelance review
The world of video editing turns deadly in the effective slow burn Freelance.
New movie review will not contain spoilers.
Freelance
Directed by John Balazs
Written by Mike Gerbino
Starring Nicole Pastor, Jordan Fraser-Trumble, Stephen Degenaro, Jasper Bagg, Hannah Brooke, Blair Allen and Albert the cat
Freelance Review
Editing is one of the most important factors in a film’s quality. A bad job can take you out of the scene…a good job can draw you further in. Pacing is directly tied to the job…and is one of the key components to enjoying what you are watching. How important is it to snuff films? Yes…that’s the impetus for the story of Freelance. A movie that isn’t about finding effective ways to cut together recordings of real murders so much as what people will do for money. And how far people will go when they find their own lives in danger.
Katie (Nicole Pastor) is struggling to make ends meet as a freelance video editor. When an opportunity that seems too good to be true comes her way via suspicious means…she learns just how bad a deal can get. Tasked with using her talents to post-produce snuff films for an unknown client…Katie immediately tries to terminate the contract. That’s when things in her own life start to resemble a deadly horror film.
Freelance’s own pacing opts for the classic slow burn thriller style. It casts a creeping dread over Katie’s situation and lets her to slowly wade through it. Increasingly violent videos find their way to her computer screen…with a big chunk of cash waiting for their completion. The only way out is to refer someone else to the job. Which would be an easier pill to swallow if the dangers were contained to the snuff videos she was paid to edit. When her cat mysteriously gets sick…and worse…Katie begins to realize the price for failing to deliver a finished product on time is too high to pay.
Two questions come to mind immediately after the plot of Freelance gets rolling. First…why does a dark web entity need (or want) their snuff films professionally edited? Look, there’s obvious skill involved in the process…but not so much that you can’t learn to do it yourself for the death scenes you’re circulating. You aren’t trying to win an Oscar. Second…and most obviously, who referred Katie to this job in the first place?
Freelance eventually answers those questions. The former kicks off a nice shift for the third act. The latter allows it to find a fulfilling thematic climax. Katie doesn’t really spend ay time considering these questions…at least not openly. But Freelance doesn’t give the impression that she’s behind the curve on what’s happening to her either. She starts in a desperate place…unable to make rent, trying to help her mother financially, and unable to even pay for her cup of coffee. Sticking with a job she knows is beyond shady is an understandable character choice. It’s only when it becomes dangerous to her own safety that she becomes truly desperate.
That’s when Freelance’s slow burn pays off. The third act puts Katie into a more aggressive role…though not in the way you would normally expect. Instead of the standard “protagonist turns the tables and seeks revenge” turn, Freelance sinks Katie deeper into the filth and asks her if she can stay afloat. How far Katie is willing to go to save herself switches up the direction of Freelance’s tension.
Nicole Pastor is excellent in the lead role. She gives a grounded and realistic portrayal of a woman who finds herself in an unimaginable situation. Katie is put through a quiet, lonely Hell throughout Freelance. She finds herself faced with personal anguish that gives way to a few tremendous crises of conscience. It’s not that there is no solution to her problem…it’s that her options would make her no better than whoever’s videos she is editing.
Scare Value
Freelance is an effective thriller that may play out a bit too slowly for everyone’s liking. There’s a worthwhile destination at the end of the path…even if it takes a bit of time to get there. A great lead performance makes the journey worth taking.
3/5
Freelance Links
Rent/Buy on VOD from Fandango at Home and Amazon
