A man, fed up with being luckier than most, decides to visit a BDSM club in order to be punished in the short comedy Please Punish Me by director Chris Esper. Check out our review right here.
No matter what Skottie (David Sackal) does, he seems to come out the other end smelling of roses. Stuck in a job he doesn’t want, Skottie finds himself being promoted to becoming the youngest board member in the history of the company. It’s not something Skottie has sought out or even worked hard for, instead he would rather doodle in his little notepad or go missing for hours upon end. To Skottie, he just considers himself to be the luckiest S.O.B on the planet and it’s getting him down.
After a brief discussion with a work colleague, Skottie seeks out a recommended BDSM club in order to be punished for his “affliction”. Yet, instead of being whipped and humiliated, he actually meets a nice and kind young woman/dominatrix who offers him some advice.
Please Punish Me is a humorous short film, directed by Chris Esper (Still Life) from a screenplay by Rich Camp. Showing that he is comfortable with different genres, Esper does well with many comedic moments throughout.
The cinematography is decent and the use of colour, especially in the BDSM club, is done very well. Looking back at Still Life (Esper’s earlier effort) we remember that the film was plagued with some sound issues; it seems Esper and his crew have taken those constructive criticisms on-board and corrected for Please Punish Me, as the sound was good throughout.
Please Punish Me is also acted well by all the performers. The was a couple of instances of actors ‘hamming it up’ but it worked well with the characters they were portraying – for example the “receptionist” at the club. He reminded me a little of Clint Howard and he actually had the funniest line and delivery in the film, when talking about his “spadonkel” (sp?).
Overall, Please Punish Me is a good little comedy film and the continued improvement in techniques and storytelling by Esper and his crew is evident.
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