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Garthwaite: A Film by Ben Kurns
USA 2023
produced by
J.G. Murphy, Nolan Pugh, Tammy Matta (executive) for TMK Pictures
directed by J.G. Murphy, Nolan Pugh
starring Maxwell Myers, Jennifer Johnson, Adam Whittington, Donald Russell, Kyle LaCross II, Timothy Portnoy, Alexis Arletta Jones, Paige Gallagher, K.C. Peña, Michael Owens, Blake Everett, TJ Wong, Sionne Elise, Jonathon Lamer, Nolan Pugh, Ben Cohn, Meghan D. Coates, J.G. Murphy, Aaron Seeks, Harrison Xu, Jayme Andrews, narration by Gregory Glaser
written by Nolan Pugh, J.G. Murphy
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Rufus Garthwaite (Nolan Pugh) was without a doubt the shortest-serving
president of the USA, his official presidency in 1921 lasting a mere 7
minutes - which is why he's nowadays by and large forgotten by the history
books. His story is an interesting one though: Being born as second son to
railroad tycoon
Randolph Beauregard Garthwaite (Jonathon Lamer), his father
never showed him the same affection he did to his firstborn Reginald, and
when Reginald died in a freak accident, young Rufus was swiftly shipped
away to military school - where he, a weirdo and loner, did not fit in at
all ... until he met young Tacitus Clements (J.G. Murphy), who would
become his lifelong friend. Later in college, he would "invent"
the principles of both the sports mascot and hazing. Yet later he would
fall in love with and marrry Beatrice Fairweather (Meghan D. Coates),
daughter of a sugar tycoon, but both his and her family would cut them off
financial support, so he'd join the army even if totally unfit for
service, and by mistake win the Spanish-American War of 1898 almost
single-handedly. Beatrice died on tuberculosis soon after that, but Rufus
got married (and divorced) 11 more times - sand remaining childless
through all of this - while he would finally be welcomed into the
Fairweather sugar empire, and used the company to financially wreck his
own father. Ultimately though, the heirs of old man Fairweather forced him
out of the company, and Tacitus Clements, who by now lived with him,
suggested there was only one road forward, that to presidency of the USA
...
Rufus Garthwaite's story is told the talking heads way, with most of
the experts showing not so much actual expertise as trying to further
their own agenda, including a historian and Garthwaite admirer (Adam
Whittington), a descendant of the Fairweather clan (Timothy Portnoy) that
has never really accepted Garthwaite, a conspiracy theorist (Jennifer
Johnson), a woman claiming to be an illegitimate descendant of Garthwaite
(Paige Gallagher), a somewhat clueless educator (Donald Russell), and an
actor desperately wanting to play Garthwaite (Kyle LaCross II) - and all
of them are trying not to address the elephant in the room, that Rufus
Garthwaite was more likely than not bi- or homosexual ...
Of course, there was never a 7 minute president of the USA
called Rufus Garthwaite, his story is entirely made up, and all the
experts are actors, but nevertheless filmmakers J.G. Murphy and Nolan Pugh
have managed to create a very engaging mockumentary that works quite so
well because the actors all give on-the-point "expertise" and
really portray a very eclectic set of characters while the story, while
set more than a century ago, has a definite satirical edge to it, and some
really good punchlines on top of it. In all, definitely worth a watch -
and quite a few chuckles.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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