23 Minutes to Sunrise (2012)

23 Minutes to Sunrise: Directed by Jay Kanzler. With Eric Roberts, Nia Peeples, Bob Zany, Dingani Beza. They say the darkest hour is just before dawn, and at the Sunrise diner it’s very late indeed. Four couples find themselves at an out-of-the-way 24-hour diner, but they are not all that they seem.

“I have absolutely no other reason for choosing to watch this little film other than it sounded interesting…I love talky films where you Know something is up but you just canu0026#39;t figure out what, and this film pulls that off perfectly.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film starts off filling in a little back story of all the characters, how they end up being at the diner, and establishing just enough of their characters as we need to set the scene.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd onto the scene, set in a pretty standard diner in American, in the early hours of the morning, almost puts me in mind of that painting u0026quot;Nighthawksu0026quot; by Edward Hopper, put in the present day, maybe thatu0026#39;s where writer/director Jay Kanzler picked up his core inspiration? So thatu0026#39;s the scene set, now the players.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWorking the night shift in the diner we have the chef (Eddie, a young War Vet played by Dingani Beza) and the waitress (Sheila, played Jilanne Klaus), the patrons include a middle aged couple trying to fix a struggling marriage, a young couple who are on the edge of a crime spree, and our mysterious couple, an older man, who has no regard for others (Played by Eric Roberts) and younger girl, who has a secret (Played by Nia Peeples) Now all these characters all have their own story lines through most of this film, they occasionally play off each other but they are essentially separate, and all the little stories are interesting to see play out, all the while establishing their characters. Then we have the the mysterious couple, I canu0026#39;t say much about them without giving the story away but itu0026#39;s clear from early on that there is something more than normal happening within their little story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNow this is a short film, only 1 hour and 18 minutes long, but Iu0026#39;m thankful for that, I really think writer/director Kanzler got the length of this movie perfect for all the different characters to develop and their stories to fill out and eventually converge in what I felt was a really powerful and intense ending.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA very well written, stylish, and for the most part, well acted film, why I say u0026quot;for the most partu0026quot; is because there were a few scenes that I felt either the acting talent was wavering, or they were struggling with a line that could be seen by some folks as being a little bit corny. Now donu0026#39;t let this put you off the film, as I said, it was well acted for the most part, and having one or two cringes for the occasional corny line is worth it to see how the full story plays out.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWell worth a watch by the talky fans out there.”