Fan Reviews

RECESS- A short film by David Kalstein. 

Review and a mini-interview with the writer/director by Gary W. Rad

December 2004


RECESS is an 11 minute short film written and directed by 27 year old Dave Kalstein in 2003 which made quite a splash on the film festival circuit. So big a splash, in fact, that Dave's novel of this story will be published by St. Martin's Press in 2005 and he is writing a screenplay for a feature length version as well.

What makes RECESS such a milestone in Ian Somerhalder's career? The film is the first production of Journeys End Films, the company founded by Ian and Chad Walters. Nobody expected the film to turn out as well as it did, hence the green light for a full length version. All the credit is due to Dave Kalstein for his imaginative story and polished direction, featuring some fine visual touches. The intriguing plot is a blend of 1984 (Big Brother is always watching) meets GATTACA (with the emphasis on perfect physical specimens) meets ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (behavior controlled by drugs) meets Pink Floyd's THE WALL.

The story takes place in the year 2034 at an elite prep school called Cranbrook Upper School. The building is shown as a modern edifice rising out of a desert area with nothing around but wasteland. The students, or "specimens," represent the creme de la creme of society with their privilege and wealth. The school administrators control the students' behavior by supplying them with drugs (or "meds") to keep them in line. The premise behind RECESS is that by freeing their minds and bodies of the meds, the students can think for themselves and escape their mental and physical "prison." A group of 3 students (Goldsmith..or Goldie, played by Cy Carter; Tom Cooley played by Ian Somerhalder; and Sadie, played by Jordan Berkow) plot to escape from Cranbrook by setting a diversion to distract the guards. Goldie manages to stay clear of his meds for 2 months while planning with Tom and Sadie. He is able to spike the students' medications during a recess period while Sadie uses her sexuality to distract the security guard and steal a key. During a futuristic game of dodgeball, the students become crazed and violent and the security forces are called in to subdue them. This gives the trio the opportunity to flee through the locked exit door with the key and flee into the outside wilderness. After Tom's initial apprehensions subside, the three friends start anew and walk off into the unknown.

RECESS was partially filmed at the Oakwood School in California and the cold and dark interior scenes are contrasted against the stark bright exterior shots when the trio finally escapes. Their initial reaction to the sunshine is somewhat akin to a vampire's...pain and repulsion. Director Kalstein uses both fast motion and slow motion during the student riot sequence to simulate the sensations felt by the overdosed victims. The music is also quite effective here.

Cy Carter, who played alongside Ian in 2001's ANATOMY OF A HATE CRIME, is quite convincing as Goldie and gives a solid performance ("Either I'm insane or I've been mistaking my schooling for my education"). Ian as Tom Cooley is the bad boy of the trio and is suitably angst-driven and gets plenty of close-ups in RECESS. His best scene is when they first escape and he looks to Sadie for a "fix" of meds to bolster his nerves after arguing with Goldie ("What now? I thought you said you had a plan. Do you know what's out there? Do you?"). Sadie tosses the last remaining pills into the air and says to Tom, "I lost my faith. I haven't lost my mind." Ian's hairstyle here is a little weird but he was working on FEARLESS for the WB during the shoot for RECESS and it was required for continuity reasons with the other project.

Chad Walters, the co-producer, has a small cameo as the Commander and even gets one speaking line...."The specimens are all jacked up!" All in all, RECESS is a very fine short film and Dave Kalstein is a writer/director to watch. He's in the process of filming his second short film (ENTREE) and is also the writer of Ian's long planned LIVING OFF INTEREST project about the fashion industry. The always obliging Dave Kalstein gives us additional background information on RECESS (and other projects) in the following mini-interview....thanks, Dave!


Gary W. Rad- What is your college/film school education background?"

Dave Kalstein- "I went to the University of Pennsylvania and have absolutely no film school background! It helps some people, but my philosophy is that you either have a story to tell or you don't. You can learn important technical skills, of course, but no one can teach creativity or, more importantly, the work ethic necessary to actually complete a script or a film."

GWR- "What was the inspiration for RECESS and how did it develop to the writing/casting/shooting/editing/scoring phase ?"

DK- "RECESS came about as a result of a feature film I am doing with Ian called LIVING OFF INTEREST, which I wrote and which he is producing and starring in. I have a lot of experience as a writer, but Ian was the first person to encourage me to think about directing my own scripts. It was something I always thought I could do, but like anything else in life, you have to get out and actually do it to find out if you've got what it takes. Since we had never worked together before, we decided to make a short film as a sort of test run for our feature film. The short is about 3 students who escape an elite, Utopian boarding school in the year 2034. Almost everything I've written up to this point has had a coming-of-age theme, mainly because I love the dilemma of wanting freedom or independence your whole life and then, when you finally get it, coming to terms with how intimidating that can be. Kind of like, "be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it."   RECESS was set in the future because I wanted it to be its own self-sustained world, an allegory, almost like a fairy tale.

Long story short: I wrote the script, flew out to LA from NYC with some money I'd saved up, and moved into Ian's old house on Sunset Blvd. We basically got a big group of extremely talented and hungry friends together and went straight into pre-production. One month later, we shot the film over 4 amazing days. Conventional filmmaking wisdom had prepared me for a completely chaotic and stressful shoot, but everything went extremely smoothly. The cast and crew became a big family...it was all because Ian and his producing team knew exactly what they were doing. Everyone respected everyone else. Obviously, it was a relief to see that Ian and I could work together. When someone has the same artistic sensibility and dedication to hard work, you start to speak in a kind of short-hand that verges on the psychic. In essence, that period WAS my film school...and the education continues and probably will continue for the rest of my career."

GWR- "Were you satisfied with the final product ?"

DK- "Overall, yes. It was my first directing job and Ian's first producing job, so of course we made many mistakes and learned from them, but they pale in comparison to the beautiful images and moments that our team created. I mean, the first public viewing was held in the screening room at CAA ! But I am proud of it, even if it's tough for me to look at now- being a perfectionist, all I see are the mistakes that the average person would never recognize. From the business side of things, directing that short film has opened up many doors. My agency and producers around town now consider me a director AND a writer, which is invaluable. Now I've got scripts that I've been hired to serve as the screenwriter and other scripts that I have written and will be directing as well. You've got to create your own opportunities in this town, because no one's going to drop one in your lap."

GWR- "What other projects have you done and what's in store for the future ?"

DK- "After we shot RECESS, I started to write a treatment for a feature-length version of the movie. When the treatment ended up being 400 pages, I realized I had written a novel. I gave it to my agent at ICM and four weeks later St. Martin's Press had bought it. I'm doing the final round of edits on the manuscript right now (November 2004). The publishing industry has a very weird, prolonged cycle for releasing novels, but I'm hoping it will hit bookstores in time for summer 2005. There was a lot of interest in the movie rights to the manuscript, but right now I'm working on a screenplay adaptation for a producer named Michael Shamberg (PULP FICTION, GET SHORTY, GATTACA, GARDEN STATE) and his company, Double Feature. Ian's reading the galleys of the novel right now....we haven't discussed casting yet, but the way his career is going at the moment, we'll be lucky if we can afford him !

Other than that, there's LIVING OFF INTEREST, which is currently undergoing one last re-write before we go out to cast the other roles. I've also developed a TV show with Miramax called WORTH STREET, which is about a group of first-year hires at Wall Street's most powerful and secretive banking firm. Next month (December 2004), I'm directing my second short film, which is called ENTREE. It's about four very successful young men- a chef, a psychiatrist, a banker and a teacher- who realize that money, women and fame still leave them hollow. So they decide to drive out to the countryside for a weekend, prepare the biggest feast man has ever seen, and eat themselves to death. Sounds dark, I know, but like RECESS, it's very much a modern-day fairy tale. If Ian wasn't shooting LOST in Hawaii, I'd have loved to have worked with him again...but hey, we're young, right? There are some other projects that I'd love to tell you about, but I can't because a.) I don't want to jinx them and b.) I could get sued for breaching my confidentiality agreements !"