"Herbert White" is an American 14-minute live action short film from 2010 that is written and directed by Oscar-nominated actor James Franco who is a far more prolific director (and writer) than most people are aware of. His name got another Oscar nominee to star in this poem-based little movie: Michael Shannon. (The rest of the cast is not known, at least not to me.) I am quite a fan of him and I don't mind Franco either (as an actor), so I was positively curious about this one. Sadly, I found it disappointing. I don't think the story is the problem or the brief running time, but the presentation is on a level where it's not working as a thriller, crime film, horror movie or as a character study. Shannon tries his best to elevate the weak production values, but also a gifted actor like him cannot really succeed here, so maybe even my fellow Shannon fans can skip this one. I was quite disappointed. It offers nothing new, nothing memorable and nothing particularly creative. But it would probably be wrong to judge Franco's skill behind the camera from this one here only. Still I give it a thumbs-down and don't recommend checking it out. It's never as effective and in your face like the story it depicts. Final addition: When reading this review, keep in mind that it was written by somebody who never read the Frank Bidart poem the film is based on.
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