Cheerbleeders

A few weeks ago I went to check my mail and found a small envelope with this DVD in it. I’m never one to turn away free stuff, so I thought I would check it out. Admittedly, I didn’t expect much from it…mainly because indie films vary widely in their sense of style, production value, and well, taste. But heck, it was only 11 minutes long so even if it was horrible, I wouldn’t be wasting too much time. Well, I can tell you this…it certainly wasn’t horrible. In fact, it was pretty damn good!Cheerbleeders is a short film by Peter Podgursky that tells the tale of an outcast, Penny, and what happens when she turns her nerdy friend Devon into an “unspeakable evil…the most popular boy in school.” What I liked most about this film is Podgursky’s ability to take an otherwise full-length film and squash it down to a mere 11 minutes, all the while keeping the main plot points intact. I almost felt as if I were watching it in fast-forward, but without losing any details of the story along the way. Another thing that helped carry this film was the acting. For a short film with a small budget, it seems like no expense was spared in getting quality actors to lead this film. While I’ve seen bigger movies with worse (much worse) acting, the actors playing Penny and Devon shine in their roles and make the film believable.

From the concise and succinct storytelling, to the fine acting ability of the lead actors, Cheerbleeders is a small movie that thinks big…in every way. Check out more at www.cheerbleeders.com