Okay, I get it. This is a test, right? We’ve proudly stated that “If we can stick it in a VCR, we’ll review it,” so filmmaker Dave Gebroe is just seeing if we’re true to our word. Why else would he send us this two and a half minute long video of him SELLING his short film “38 Geary” rather than sending us the film itself? I mean, it’s not even a trailer, for heaven’s sake. It’s just him going from trapped commuter to commuter, hawking copies of his short out of a box.
That’s not to say, however, that it isn’t a damned clever way to self-distribute your film, especially when that film — “The most exciting public transportation comedy since ‘Speed,'” according to the accompanying press kit — was written and directed on that very same bus route; the 38 Geary Muni route in San Francisco. It’s just that this particular tape isn’t all that helpful. You’d think, for instance, that Gebroe might include a clip or two from the film or that he would, at the very least, let us hear more of his sales pitch. Nope. No such luck. As a result, although I may be intrigued, this tape doesn’t quite sell me on “38 Geary.”
