SLFS Review – ROB IN THE HOOD

ROB IN THE HOOD screens Wednesday, July 19 at 7:00pm at the Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis) as part the Narrative Shorts 5 Program that is part of this year’s St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase. Ticket information can be found HERE

Review by Stephen Tronicek

Gregory Sporleder’s ROB IN THE HOOD is a perfect example of the small-scale short film, bolstered by some naturalistic performances and some really impressive shots. The film centers on a young boy in St. Louis named Robert, played by Bodhi Sporleder, who skateboards around the city and often stops to talk to The Chef (Jeff Sporleder). Whenever Robert notices a man who has too much and treats everybody like trash, he decides to take matters into his own hands and take from the rich to give to the poor.

Rob in the Hood isn’t self-conscious about being an obvious re-invigoration of the Robin Hood story, but it also seems to know that when dealing with material so familiar to a culture that you need to bring something new to the table, and Rob in the Hood certainly does bring some interesting ideas, the best of which being its use of setting. The St. Louis setting of ROB IN THE HOOD is beautifully depicted. The short only runs twenty minutes long and a lot of that is dedicated to the establishment of setting, with notable landmarks becoming something to watch in the film.

This use of setting imbues the familiar plot with some new life, the same way that Woody Allen uses the personality of cities to elevate what are in some ways, very similar scripts. A place changes things and can be as much of a living being as any of the characters at the center of a film and the city that ROB IN THE HOOD takes place in gives it enough personality to be worth a watch.

For a list of all of the films screening at this year’s St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase, go HERE