I've developed a habit of having outlandish dreams, whether I'm awake or asleep. In these dreams some major details seem to get left out. Not because I'm unthoughtful, but because my head gets so flooded with ideas it's hard to keep them all straight. In the end I'm always satisfied with whatever zaniness ensues in my head, but it's always a question of how I got there.
I feel honored to have seen so much of Nero come to be from the tiny, silly details of what liquids look most like alcohol in black and white to the more expansive details of how one manifests a steam train. The overall feel of life leading up to the premiere was a lot of buzz and a lot of talk that always makes me nervous.
Film noir in my experience contains a good deal of archetypes and stock characters. The femme fatale for one. So I suppose I'll start there. St. Claire was lacking as the femme fatale, in fact, fatale seems a bit generous. I'll give her femme, but Edlund lacked in any of the allure that should have been possessed in her character.
I must attribute some of this to the writing. The tragedy of a 45 minute film is that if the ensemble of characters gets to big nothing becomes established well. There's no great place to point the finger, but I think much of that falls on the writer. If one doesn't have the time to establish all the characters then it's best to leave them out. There was just something missing. How did we get from a to b? And why does her hair look less than becoming when she's in the dressing room? As any dream it was started with an idea, but it also followed the pattern of moving a little too fast when all you want is for it to move slower and moving a little too slow when all you want is to get out of this spot. The dialog was fair, but forced. Hartman has good concepts and is quite clever, but he has a ways to go before those strange little dream gaps disappear.
Visually the film was beautiful, though I question whether the '40s were really that smoky. I don't know. I wasn't there. Eberly has a good eye for what looks best, but still has some work to do on what is best as far as acting is concerned. Much credit must also be paid to Steele for his cinematography. No complaints.
As far as student films go this Nero was a big dream on a small budget that turned out better than most student films. It's visually stunning. Black was as dapper and suave as one would hope in a private eye. Some of the actors were a little less favorable, but this is one of the pains a making a student film. Free and good actors are hard to come by. Nero Bloom is, in my opinion, successful. Was it perfect? Certainly not. Was it an absolute bomb? Clearly not. Is there room for improvement? Of course, but it is a student film and as far as student films go it's still far better than most of what students are producing. It didn't have some "abstract" nor "artsy" storyline. It wasn't about whatever you want to make of it. It wasn't trying to prove a point. It stands on its own feet.