A barfly jazz pianist should commit homicide to repay a drug debt to a crooked cop.  Greatest maintain on tight.  It’s gonna be one helluva evening.

A few summers in the past I interviewed indie filmmaker Derek Presley on the event of his directorial debut characteristic “Whitetail”. I appreciated this story of an adolescent boy pressured to develop up too quickly within the face of abject evil. The flick indicated promising stuff forward for Presley.

Filmmaker Derek Presley, proper.

Flash ahead to now. Presley’s profession has, the truth is, blossomed alongside together with his manufacturing finances (humorous how one begets the opposite, huh?).

“TONIC”: Chronicle of a Felony Keyboardist

His newest effort is the one depraved wacko evening of debauchery, crime and eclectic stay music chronicle “Tonic”.

Billy Blair (“Machete”, “The Final Stand”) is a marvel as Sebastian Poe, a nightclub piano participant who simply desires a paying gig however is pressured to pay for previous transgressions. Blair, an achieved musician in his personal proper, delivers a yeoman efficiency right here, inhabiting rattling close to each scene we see in “Tonic”. And his welcome by no means wears out, gliding as he does via a demanding myriad of predicaments and feelings, summoning regardless of the second requires with charming vulnerability and power.

Billy Blair. Smokes it as Sebastian Poe.

Sebastian Poe. One tuff SOB, sucker.

Blair’s manifestation of Sebastian as written by Presley could also be that of a luckless loser. However that doesn’t imply dude ain’t one fuckin’ stout ass son of a bitch, buddy. Throughout the course of this primordially punishing evening he’s socked within the schnoz with the butt of a pistol, thrown out of a taxi onto the concrete to get the crap kicked out of him and shot at repeatedly whereas being dogged by a deranged drug supplier.

However maybe most heinous of all is what the crazed crooked cop inflicts upon poor Sebastian to kick off the night’s egregious escapades among the many bowels of civilization. Excruciating aggressions perpetrated south of the underbelly, each proverbial and literal, and unto a scrotum sack screaming bloody homicide. Or piss, to be extra exact.

And To Hell with Joyful Endings

“Tonic” concludes with Sebastian doing what he’s meant to do. Tickling the ivories, man. Whereas beautiful, the music he makes is melancholy. Haunting.

The bittersweet sound portending that for this crusty keyboardist, life holds little greater than replaying the identical previous sordid and sorrowful tune.

Presley is at the moment touring the movie competition circuit with “Tonic”. One would suppose distributors will be lining as much as purchase.

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Upcoming New Indie Crime Drama “TONIC” (2023): The Perils of The Piano Man

Performing – 7/10 Cinematography/Visible Results – 6.75/10 Plot/Screenplay – 6.75/10 Setting/Theme – 6.75/10

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Upcoming New Indie Crime Drama “TONIC” (2023): The Perils of The Piano Man

A barfly jazz pianist should commit homicide to repay a drug debt to a crooked cop.  Greatest maintain on tight.  It’s gonna be one helluva evening.