Co-written by the co-stars and directed by one of them, Cortez has a lot of the strengths of a good indie production. Notable among the assets here is the way the West is a character. You certainly see it in the landscapes, but it’s also present in the décor of the interiors and in everyone’s stylistically-heightened clothes. Kelly Moore’s cinematography and F. Rocky Jameson’s editing add to the distinct local color. Moore's camera is still during still moments and moves when the pace picks up, and the way she lets light work contributes to the sense of place, whether nighttime bonfire images of a machine beast crushing a burning structure or a daytime exterior with highlights washed out by the bright ambient light. She also frames images to allow more space for the world around the actors. Supplementing all this, Jameson allows enough room in a shot for the action to be clear, but he cuts away when we have enough information rather than lingering overlong. And he jump cuts to move action along quickly.
For all this strength, the two creative principals show a less sure hand. Cheryl Nichols and Arron Shiver both have strong careers in acting, but the dialog they’ve created here doesn’t make for compelling cinema. It shifts quickly in tone from consciously over-eloquent to mundane, and it’s laden with heavy-handed symbols and even exposition, just in case we don’t get the symbols. You can’t fight everyone the way a ninja does, Jesse tells us so we recognize the evolution of his character. Jameson's editing compresses action and moves the story of Cortez quickly, but Nichols’ and Shriver’s dialog bogs down this movement into long scenes of discourse, often allowing characters to deliver extended orations that become tedious, no matter how good the acting. As director, Nichols bears no small of amount of responsibility here. She lets scenes of dialog run like theatrical productions rather than a movie, relying on language instead of images and action, and she does little to break up long narrative speeches. The opening of Cortez sets up this aesthetic as a man tells Jesse a long story while the two are sitting in a hot spring with nothing to interrupt our view of the speaker's face and the flow of his words except an occasional reaction shot.
Cortez has many strong elements, especially its evocation of the West as enhanced by expert cinematography and editing. Stronger direction and a more focused script would have made this a very fine film indeed.
Atlanta Film Festival: Saturday, April 1, 5:15 pm at the Plaza Theater
