The Jungle of Accounting – A Short Film Review
The Jungle of Accounting is a mockumentary style comedy that offers up plenty of laughs in this well rounded short. The laughs are light-hearted and come thick and fast as the curtain is lifted on an accounting firm.
What’s It All About?
Charles and Maryanne Bailey, the proud owners of a small accounting firm, reflect on the absurd yet true stories of their past assistants in the 1980’s.
My Opinion
Chase Pearson has crafted an excellent piece of Short film. The writer and director has managed to make this comedy very relatable. Having spent quite a number of years working in an office environment (I am sure lots of you have) this short is very close to home. That colleague who doesn’t smell quite right, a co-worker with a secret criminal background and every office has someone who tries to one-up every tale you tell. All are present here. Each story has it’s own arc and is played up for laughs making these stories even more over-the-top. The best is kept until last as Charles and Maryanne begin the short by claiming to have finally found the perfect assistant, only for the conclusion to offer up an interesting revelation.
Pearson keeps the story fast-paced, cramming in an awful lot of content into its eleven minute running time, although it never feels rushed. The sharp editing means we never hang around in a scene longer than we need thanks to narration by a present-day Charles and Maryanne. They keep the story on-point as they take us through their journey into accounting assistants in the 1980’s. Thanks to the cinematography from Daniel Chang we are given a visual story. As the film moves between the 1980’s and current day, so does the picture style. The 80’s offers us a boxed off frame, a 4:3 ratio reminiscent of the period, as well as a grainy picture and the odd flicker of dirt which brings back all of our memories from that time. The current day gives us the widescreen picture and high definition quality we know and love. I also thought the over-the-shoulder viewpoint is utilized well here. bringing us closer to the action. I felt that this was at it’s best during the excellent scene between Charles and the FBI agent.
The writing takes centre stage as the story is both witty and comedic with plenty of laugh out loud moments, having mentioned earlier how it is a true reflection of real life makes it even funnier. The mockumentary style is perfectly suited to this story and works very well. The stories are straight forward which means you don’t need to think too hard about what is happening on screen and enjoy the story unfold. Chase gives us some excellent humor and there isn’t a scene that goes by that fails to make you laugh. The dialogue felt fresh and natural, making it that much easier to get sucked into the film, living and breathing with these characters.
We get the pleasure of watching some great performances. Ray Bergen and Kathy McCort are pefectly cast as the current day Charles and Maryanne. The dialogue driven performace comes across as wise old heads looking out for the good of their business. You can’t help but warm to these characters and instantly like them. Their performance seemed so sincere. The younger pair, played by Timothy J. Cox and Colleen Sproull are every bit their equal. Their good natured personalities shine as they battle through each assistant trying to give them every chance to succeed. Cox in particular steals every scene he is involved in. Two in particular that spring to mind is his confrontation with Jimmy, which is brilliant, and his excellent scene with the FBI agent. His deadpan delivery timed to comedic perfection.
Notable Performances
Ray Bergen and Kathy McCort are excellent as the current day Charles and Maryanne Bailey. They are instantly likeable and you sympathize with them as the talk through the trials and tribulations of their long suffering accountancy. They make you feel like the relatives you always wanted. Their hearts are in the right place as they fondly reminisce about their past employees. As most of their performance is narration, it is the way they describe a situation and recall events that really draw you in, which is every bit to their credit. You can feel that they genuinely cared for each of these assistants.
Timothy J. Cox and Colleen Sproull play the younger version of Charles and Maryanne Bailey. Both actually do resemble the older versions making the film more beleiveable. The younger version given the best of the comical moments. In particular Cox has some excellent dialogue with Jimmy, played by Erin Patrick Miller, and Greer Barnes, who plays an FBI agent. His uncomfortable discussions are tremendous to watch and are another highlight of this short. Cox excells at delivering his deadpan lines with all the seriousness and conviction they deserve, making for some great laughs. Sproull is definintely the more fiery of the two, but still comes across as mild mannered. Her serious approuch to this role should be commended as she gives a more authoratitive delivery to the assistants’ issues while keeping the charm that the character has.
Also a worthy mention is needed to Erin Patrick Miller, Kate McGarrigle and Maryann Lonergan who play the three assistants. All gave a great showing. Erin had a quietly confident approach to his character which I found very surprising when his character took a darker turn, although Erin pulled it off excellently and the calming outlook he brought to the character made it really effective. Maryanne played her role with a level of innocence which made the outcome of her story-arc surprising. The pick of the bunch however had to be Kate McGarrigle who’s eyepatch wearing Amy produced quite a bit of hilarity with her outrageous stories. She attempted to one-up a particular client with the stories quickly exculating. The intent on her face as she refuses to be outdone was very well done.
The Verdict
The Jungle of Accounting is an enjoyable and relatable comedy that really delivers thanks to some excellent writing and great performances. The mockumentary style filming was a perfect setting for these stories to take place in and thanks to some excellent cinematography the short is captured perfectly. This short film manages to capture three shorter tales within its runtime and give us a worthy conclusion thanks to some slick storytelling.
