Shriek (Aaron Burns), a white businessman, records himself on smart
phone making a threat towards an unseen opponent, with three hooded black
man - supposed gangmembers - serving as backdrop. The piece is hilariously
bad, even before it's revealed that the "gangmembers" are just
actors who have accepted the job to act tough in the background because
roles for black actors are few and far between. And the businessman,
probably a businessman but lacking any and all charisma? He's just a
pathetic little fool looking for acceptance, even friendship, that goes
beyond his wallet. But even his three "homies" only agree to
stay for the night because they're promised good pay - and they feel less
than happy about it. Now the inspiration to this little short
was a video pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli (if you don't know who
that is, you're right - he's just an attention-grabbing nobody) shot at
the height of his beef with Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ghostface Killah, in
pretty much the same outfit as the lead in this movie, also backed by
three hooded "gangmembers" - and to be honest, Shkreli's
original video is even more pathetic than the intentionally pathetic one
at the beginning of this movie. And this short is really good in
developing the character further in a mere 7 minutes as a sort of wannabe
supervillain who deep down just wants to be loved, without the first idea
of how to achieve that ... and the film actually makes one feel for that
pathetic little man - while at the same time understanding why nobody
really likes to be with him. The result is actually a very interesting
if sometimes crude character piece, which one might even enjoy if never
even heard of Martin Shkreli and his beef with Ghostface Killah ... and
frankly, if it wasn't for this little gem, why should anyone care really? ...
and if this has all gotten you interested, feel free to watch the movie
(for free) here: http://uproxx.com/smokingsection/shriek-martin-shkreli-film/
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