Carousel

Jason Nancarrow’s directorial debut, Carousel, throws you into a Dallas in the not-so-distant future where the traffic cameras do more than watch for red-light violators. What if they track your every footstep and monitor your every conversation?

Jake Keller (Jason Nancarrow) works the beat in Dallas as a freelance reporter for one of the top city papers. He tirelessly chases down leads no other reporter would touch. The story he’s currently working on is about an undocumented migrant who was killed by a police officer during a routine traffic stop.

In the middle of this story, Jake’s editor wants him to look into the city’s push toward a “Smart City” surveillance network. It’s pitched as an upgrade for traffic control, but Jake’s got that feeling there’s more to the “Smart City” than meets the eye.

As Jake digs deeper, a lead sends him to a crack den in South Dallas. Trying to slip in with the dealers, Jake is thrown to the ground, and just before he is executed, he is saved by Dallas Det. Parry (George Welder). He gives Jake an irresistible offer…but at a price. Hand over the video of the police shooting of the migrant, and Parry will give him important information regarding “Smart City.”

A bloodied Jake Keller (Jason Nancarrow) grips a knife while cornered in Carousel.

“…Jake’s editor wants him to look into the city’s push toward a “Smart City” surveillance network.”

What I love about Carousel is its sheer audacity in making this little indie film look and feel like a big-studio political thriller. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a low-budget indie, but it acts like a studio production. That’s largely because of its tight shots throughout most of the action. It covers up the fact that the production didn’t have a high-priced designer to stage the newsroom, executive suites, and crack dens with Hollywood excess.

As the lead protagonist, Jason Nancarrow might be a little rough around the edges as an actor, but he definitely creates a fully fleshed-out character in Jake Keller. He’s a reporter for the people, has a few personal demons to fight, and isn’t afraid to stand up to anyone, even if it means he’ll get pistol-whipped. The dude even gets to sleep with the femme fatale under heat-vision surveillance. It’s all so juicy.

Nancarrow, who also wrote and directed Carousel, just “goes for it” as Carousel, plotwise, takes on the big studios in the scope and scale of the conspiracy. He simply asks the question of what would happen if an American city decided to employ the oppressive surveillance network of the Chinese. How could the dark forces slip it in under everyone’s noses, and will this mark the start of an American social credit system? Chilling to say the least.

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t make a big-budget thriller on the thinnest of capital. With Carousel, Jason Nancarrow shows that telling a compelling story makes up for a modicum of sins.

For more information, visit the Carousel official Instagram page.