Unwrapping A Winner
by John Stanley

Dramatic short-subject films rarely carry the depth and surprise impact of "Unwrapped," twenty minutes depicting the battle of the sexes from two unknown filmmakers, Dennis Willis and Steven Kirk.

In their low-budget but high-drama morality tale, Kristina Hughes is a luscious woman who thinks she's in love with good-looking Paolo Cascardo – until he asks her, during a moment of passion, to remove her clothing so he can snap a few "shapely" angles with his digital camera.

But more than breasts are exposed in the exchange – he reveals that he saw her nude photos on the internet (a moment of weakness from her past) and she surmises he is far more intrigued in exploiting her than in having a genuine romance. How Hughes turns the tables on her chauvinistic, betraying lover makes for a startling climax neither originally intended.

Willis, a TV personality and film critic from the San Francisco Bay Area, and Kirk, a Los Angeles-based actor and former studio movie publicist, have collaborated to write, produce and direct this provocatively themed lesson in how not to find true love.

Another outstanding feature is the original and evocative music score by Tom Kidding, which underscores the tension between "lovers" and the O'Henry turnaround that Hughes invokes. This is definitely destined for the Independent Film Channel.