Skip to main content

Broken Record

2014

Starring Steven Patrick and John Gaffney 

Directed by Andy S McEwan 



Broken Record is the story of two middle aged men who find a box of old records (LPs) during a house clearance. The men act as if they have found a bag of gold even though they have no special knowledge or interest in vinyl. The records must be valuable because they are old. Steven Patrick and John Gaffney both play their roles fairly straight and only occasionally slip into farcical performance.  Andy S McEwan has made good little film here. I'm not in any way condescending to the movie when I call it a good little film. The story is small, the aesthetic is small and its nice little film. I have a feeling this is the exact film he wanted to make.

The following is a small tangent that really has nothing to do with the quality of the film I am reviewing:

This is the third Scottish short I watched this week and I noticed something really strange about all three films… they all have pay phones. This is more than likely just a cultural difference between Tucson Arizona and Glasgow Scotland but I need to ask, are there still an abundance of pay phones in Scotland? I couldn’t find a pay phone in Tucson if my life depended on it. I’m not pointing this out in a disparaging manor just a peculiar little difference.

Back to the film:
This is the first film from Andy S McEwan and he certainly shows promise. This is a strong debut.  He has made entertaining film. A great number of first time directors are trying so hard to impress us that forget to entertain us. I was happy to spend 11 minutes with these characters and would gladly watch whatever this young filmmaker comes up with next.

Should you watch it? Yes. Where can you watch it? Sadly the film is currently in competition and cannot be publicly shown. Andy will update me when the film is made public again and I will post a link.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Explaining the Ending of MULHOLLAND DRIVE

David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive remains one of the most haunting and enigmatic films ever made. It operates like a riddle that refuses to be solved, luring the viewer into a world where time, memory, and identity dissolve into one another. What begins as a mysterious, almost whimsical Hollywood fairy tale gradually transforms into a psychological nightmare. By the end, it’s clear that what we’ve been watching is not a mystery to be unraveled but an emotional landscape, the mind of a woman caught between fantasy and despair. The film tells the story of two women, Betty Elms and Rita, whose lives intertwine after Rita survives a car crash and loses her memory. Betty, a bright and optimistic aspiring actress freshly arrived in Los Angeles, takes her in. Together, they embark on an investigation into Rita’s identity, which unfolds like a noir detective story bathed in dreamlike light. Everything about this world feels heightened: Betty’s charm, the coincidence of events, and the ease with w...

Explaining the Ending of No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men is a tense, spare, and philosophical thriller that upends traditional narrative expectations. While it contains the elements of a crime drama—drug deals, hitmen, shootouts—it refuses to follow a conventional path. By the time the film ends, the central conflict seems unresolved, the villain walks away, and the protagonist we’ve been following disappears offscreen. To understand the film’s ending, one must look beyond plot and consider its themes: fate, violence, moral decay, and the erosion of order in the modern world. The Narrative Setup The story begins with Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Vietnam veteran who discovers a drug deal gone wrong in the Texas desert and makes off with $2 million in cash. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a remorseless hitman, is sent to retrieve the money. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a weary and introspective lawman, tries to make sense of the violence unfolding around him. At first glance, the film appears to set up a c...

Dracula (2026) Trailer, Release Date, Cast, and Plot Details

Dracula (2026) Trailer, Release Date, Cast, and Plot Details Vertical has officially announced that DRACULA (2026), the latest reimagining of the iconic vampire myth, will be released exclusively in theaters nationwide on February 6, 2026. Written, directed, and produced by visionary filmmaker Luc Besson, the film promises a dark, operatic take on one of cinema’s most enduring legends. Dracula (2026) Cast and Creative Team Besson’s Dracula (2026) stars Caleb Landry Jones in the title role, joined by an impressive ensemble that includes Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu, Guillaume de Tonquedec, Matilda De Angelis, Ewens Abid, and Raphael Luce. The film is executive produced by Mark Canton, Dorothy Canton, Ryan Winterstern, and Philippe Corrot, further cementing the project as a major cinematic event. Dracula (2026) Plot Synopsis Set against the brutal backdrop of the 15th century, Dracula (2026) begins with profound personal tragedy. After witnessing the savage murder of his beloved wife (Zoë B...