Cutlass is a short film from 2007, it was directed by Kate Hudson for Glamour magazine’s Reel Moments, and I believe the first time we see Virginia Madsen in a ‘short’. The annual project gets readers of the magazine to send in short stories for a chance of having them brought to life by Hollywood professionals who all donate their time to the project. There was a total of 20 short films made between 2005 and 2011.
Cutlass premiered on October 9th in Los Angeles with further screenings in the hometown of the author. It was written and directed by Kate Hudson, so, well, a pretty famous reader. Which seems a bit odd to me if I’m honest but I couldn’t find anyone else credited as a writer on the project and it is her name on the credits at the end as writer.
The story revolves around a young girl, Lucy (Dakota Fanning) who dreams of being a songwriter one day. One day she discovers a guitar in a local shop, a vintage 1979 Gibson Hummingbird no less. She falls in love with it immediately.
She runs off to tell her Mum, Robin, our Virginia, all about it in the hopes she can have it.
Even though she has money of her own saved up, the guitar is expensive, and so Mums being Mums says she can’t have it on the default Mum setting. But, she’s not quite sure she means it.
Flashback to 1979 and we see a young Robin (Kristen Stewart) falling in love with a car, the Cutlass from which the film is named. Wouldn’t you know it, she has some money of her own but she needs her Dad’s (Kurt Russell) help to get it.
I won’t give away the rest of this story here, I’ll let you discover that for yourself if you’ve not already seen it.
It’s only a short film, less than 15 minutes long in fact but no effort has been spared bringing it to reality.
Virginia plays her part brilliantly in this, she truly shines as a Mother who wants the best for her daughter but doesn’t want to just hand it to her one a plate. She opens the film with a simple line of dialogue “I always try to remember my Dad’s advice on parenting, and don’t ever forget what it’s like to be a kid – Well, I forget all the time “ and from there you’re on the hook. Sure, it’s a simple couple of words but it’s all in the delivery.
You’ve also got the likes of Chevy Chase, Sarah Roemer, Brian Hooks, Ethan Suplee to name but a few on the case for this one. Not one of them puts a foot wrong here even if they’re only on screen for a few minutes.
It’s a fun watch, and a gentle reminder of what should be important in your life. Definitely worth 15 minutes of your time.
Availability:
You can’t buy it any form as far as I know but it is freely available on YouTube, for the moment at least.
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