Brotherhood

A van with some college pledges are tasked with robbing a convenience store as part of their initiation into the Sigma Zeta Chi fraternity. They are given a mask and a gun and told to get $19.10. Freshman Adam Buckley doesn't really want to this, but his highly pressured into it by the house senior Frank and the other two pledges who had done their “robbery”. Adam reluctantly goes in before Frank discovers that they are parked at the wrong store and Adam may actually be holding up the store.

Moments later what would have been a harmless prank on the pledges turns into a bloody mess when the store clerk shoots Kevin Fahey (Lou Taylor Pucci). Panic and chaos ensues as Frank (John Foster) tries to run damage control by cleaning up the mess. Adam wants to take Kevin to the hospital, but Frank doesn't want the authorities involved by letting the fraternity handle it themselves. There's a house party going on with drinking, girls and more house pranks. Everyone is quickly sent out while they bring in the injured Kevin who is shot in the shoulder and losing lots of blood. Panic is building with everyone trying to keep a lid on the situation while Frank is yelling for everyone to shut up so he can think. But those serious errors in thinking causes a cascade of disastrous consequences that involves kidnapping the store clerk and hiding the injured pledge from a former house mate that is now a cop. Not to mention the various pranks played that evening that were mean and stupid and will come back and bite them. There's issues of a pack mentality involved with frat life as everyone is trying to run spin control on a situation that is becoming increasingly more stressful. Adam must find a way to save his friends even if it means going against his potential brotherhood.

Arlington director Will Canon's debut won audience awards at SXSW and DIFF. This is a satisfying and exciting first feature project that well deserves the accolades. The camera chases around the actors barely letting the audience catch its breath when more stuff piles on straining credibility but still keeping your eyes glued to the screen. The feature started as a short film project when Canon was a junior at NYU about 10 years ago. The script written by Canon and Doug Simon is edgy, frantic and full of surprises. Just when you think these young men can't do anything worse, the other shoe falls. The strong work by the cast makes the story highly believable. If nothing else it just goes to prove that having a college education doesn't necessarily mean that you are smart.
(Review by reesa)