So I watched a movie called Held. Why did I watch this movie? I gotta tell a little story.
In December 2019, I was at a gathering in L.A. It was mostly people I didn’t know, or only knew online, or had just met. Some of you were there, and know what gathering I’m talking about.
Anyway, at one point I was talking with a group of people, and one of them was a young lady named Jill Awbrey who was talking about a movie she’d just completed filming named Held. She wrote it, and she made a deal with the studio that produced it that she got to star in it. I thought that was pretty cool, she’s making a career for herself. So anyway, I filed that title away in my mind to check out when it was released.
Then of course, the pandemic happened and the movie kind of vanished. According to IMDB, it had a theatrical release in April 2021 and made $42k in its opening weekend, and $142k total gross. It doesn’t say what the budget was. I watched it on Hulu.
Ok, so was it any good?
It is actually pretty good. It presents itself as a sort of bog-standard home invasion thing, but it has a really well-done twist that elevates it quite a bit above that. It makes good use of the setting. The pacing is about perfect (the movie runs 90 minutes and does not waste your time). At first the characters act in a way that seems unbelievable or unrealistic… but… it all works out in the end.
The high point of the movie, for me, is the presentation of the control room (that is a spoiler, I guess, but not much of one). Whoever was the set designer/decorator for that room should get at least two Oscars.
Anyway, I hope Jill Awbrey is still writing and making deals for herself out there!