Nickel Children
- Directed By: Kevin Eslinger
- Written By: Kevin Eslinger
- Country: USA
- Released: 2010
- Running Time: 16 minutes
- Links: Official Site
- Buy It: Pre-order the DVD on IndieGoGo
- Action, Reviews, Science Fiction, Western
Taking place in an alternate 19th Century Kansas, Nickel Children centres on Jack (Easton Lee McCuiston) who is forced to witness his parent’s murder at the start of the film. Things go from bad to worse for Jack as he is dragged away and sold into a child fighting ring.
On the face of it, this does sound like a very straightforward storyline and, superficially, things do play out in a fairly linear fashion. However, there is a great deal more depth to this steampunk western than is immediately apparent and it is clear that a significant amount of thought has gone into the world being presented. This works unobtrusively to give the film a very real sense that there is a great deal of potentially fascinating stuff going on just out of Jack’s sight.
Visually, the film is incredibly striking and the set and costume design combining flawlessly to create a very consistent whole. This look is not only impressive in itself but it also manages to provide a great deal of information about the world in which Jack finds himself. While the visual tropes are built on the film’s steampunk underpinnings, there is also a very real sense that writer/director, Kevin Eslinger has put a lot of thought into how these things fit together and how they fit with the world in which the film is set. This attention to detail gives the film a wonderfully tactile feel – so much so that you can almost feel the dust coming off the screen.
Equally important, if not more so, are the people that populate the world and here, again, the film does well. Much time has clearly been spent developing the major characters and this results in them having a real sense of being real people with real motivations.
It also helps that the acting is solid throughout. Easton Lee McCuiston does a great job of capturing the character of a child, thrown into a strange and violent situation, and trying to survive. In this, he is ably supported by the rest of the cast, especially Jeremy Snowden as the mysterious Sheriff who inverts Jacks world and Amanda Bailey as Anastasia.
While Nickel Children works very well in its own right, the film also manages to convey a strong sense of being the opening episode to a much larger story. This larger story is one that I would love to see.
