A Couple Working Things Out

Bruce Von Stiers

Ever since Mr. and Mrs. Smith made a big cinematic splash, there have been films cashing in on the theme. That is, married assassins trying to keep things together.

There is a new short film that tries to capitalize on the theme as well. The title of the film is The Hit.

The film is a comedy adventure film with a different kind of romance angle. That angle is that the husband and wife are getting a divorce. The film opens with them sitting with their lawyers across from each other in a restaurant.

Each gets a text with another assignment. That starts things rolling in the adventure part of the film. They end up having to fight together against a gang of criminals at a warehouse.

Hayden Hiebert is Aaron, the husband. He has starred in several short films and appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: Picard. Elaina Adrianna is Sarah, the wife. She has also starred in several short films, including Not Quite Human, which also starred Hiebert.

David Garry plays Chef Colton Huffman, the owner of the restaurant from the first of the film, who's also friends with Aaron and Sarah. His previous roles include the action short film A Count of Treason.

Other actors appearing in the film are Jane Petrov, Akul Dang, Tatyana Figueiredo, Joanna Gagueche, Andie Ximenes, Steven E. Kimbrough, Diogo Hausen and Nick Laurant.

Chris Van Valey was the cinematographer. He's done music videos by artists such as Dead Sara and Ryan Adams. Michael Fahey, who was assistant editor on a bunch of Chrisley Knows Best episodes, edited this film.

Jordan Bennett composed original music for the film.

The film was directed by Andrew Kadikan. He's worked with Adrianna and Hiebert before, having directed them in such films as Not Quite Human and Seeker's Bounty.

The plot for The Hit was decent, but I was looking for something a bit more complex from the film's synopsis. I did like the dialog between Adrianna and Hiebert, especially at the start of the film where they answer questions in unison. And Hiebert's fighting the bad guys could have been choreographed a little better. But Adrianna's gun handling was cool, especially a couple of badass shots she got off. And squaring off against a num-chuk wielding woman, Adrianna does something that's surely a nod to Indiana Jones.

I learned that the film was made in one weekend. That is, the script was written, the film shot, edited, scored, mixed and had the finishing touches added all within 48 hours. The film was made for the 2024 competition of the Los Angeles 48-Hour Film Project.

The film was nominated for several awards at the Best of LA, which is the awards ceremony for the Los Angeles 48-Hour Film Project. Those nominations included Best Use of Line, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects. The film won Runner Up for the Best Musical Score.

The Hit has also been submitted to the Santa Clarita International Film Festival for possible inclusion in this year's upcoming festival.

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers