The Local (2008) User Reviews (11)

Surprisingly good

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 10 December 2009]

Drug dealer who is clean himself gets involved with several characters including getting paid to get back a man's kidnapped relative.

Good but not great truly independent film may look and play out like other urban dramas but manages to rise above them thanks to a good script, a game (if somewhat uneven) cast and a singular and gritty vision. Unlikely to ever win a legion of fans, simply because I can't see this ever finding a huge audience because of its independent nature (some people simply don't want anything other than mainstream Hollywood), this is still a small film that's worth seeing simply because its better than similar films.

This is one to keep an eye out for

More Real Than Most

[jsanabria · 7/10 · 8 March 2013]

Went into this with pretty high hopes and honestly the first half hour made me a bit weary. I thought i was going to be extremely disappointed. But from the half hour mark until the very end, this movie was real, raw, and honest. This is the first time I have heard of Dan Eberle, although he does look familiar, and he did an incredible job at portraying his emotions and confusion about where his place in life is. I always have an immense amount of respect for people who can write, direct, and star in the same movie. The acting from each character didn't come off as strong or over the top. In fact, it didn't seem like acting at all, it was very natural. Happy to say that I was impressed with this film, and I'm very glad that I watched it. Great underlying story of the importance of family, the support needed to be clean, and how we can go out of our way to help others that are in worse shape than ourselves.

Community college freshmen A/V project

[chefdan711 · 1/10 · 13 January 2010]

Script is boring, characters undeveloped, plot unimaginative, anticlimactic, horrible camera affects, and just all-around waste of time...

unless it was someones homework assignment...then I'd give em a D+...

But since this was actually written, directed, and produced into this mess and then put out into the world for others to view...then I must say that Dan Eberle,you are an epic failure!

Steer clear of this film that should have been put out in the garbage...

There is some brief full-frontal female nudity, but not long enough, nor satisfying enough, to warrant any amount of the time spent suffering through this junk.

After school film for slow adults

[in1984 · 3/10 · 26 November 2009]

The story is overly simplistic and melodramatic, like some slightly better than after-school teen film.

I.e., yet another boring inner city drug drama.

Impressive technically, but little more. The acting is all impressive (excluding Eberle who is also the writer and would have been better off writing himself a cameo role). The score, soundtrack, and filming all help make the film tolerable. Hopefully everyone except Eberle will get better films to be in from now on.

So what do you watch instead? Gamer has some similar sub-story lines and written into a more interesting film overall.

Wow.

[sikkwolf · 1/10 · 8 November 2012]

Okay look, this movie flat out sucks. The "action scenes" are only brutal if you're a child who's never been in a fight, or seen a decent movie. "Collateral" had short, relatively brutal and engaging fight scenes, "Snatch" had a brutal efficiency to the violence in it. This movie has BUTCHERED "flutter sequences", where there is no fluid attachment to the motion, and what you're really supposed to believe, is that a bunch of fat guys in cameo who are coked up are bad asses. Or that the main character is from a video game, where he receives a horrendous beating, charges his super meter, and suddenly "finish him!" rings out and bam, opponent dead from a nonsensical and badly edited series of moves, I mean seriously, these action sequences wouldn't make sense to Michael Bay. If you want a gritty and violent affair, that's fun to watch as well as professionally filmed and acted, check out "Harsh Times", please don't watch this pile of dung.

Dan Eberle is a Genius, Needs to Break Out Big Time

[gavin6942 · 8/10 · 27 September 2009]

A drug dealer who happens to be clean himself (Dan Eberle) roams around town on a variety of missions, finding himself getting into fights at every turn. One of his chief missions? Rescuing a heroin-addicted daughter for a concerned father... whose motives are unclear.

Let me lay this on the line: Dan Eberle is the man of the future for crime dramas. He has written and directed a film in the style of Guy Ritchie's "Snatch" and "Two Smoking Barrels" -- also producing and starring in it. When this disc arrived in my mail, I was unsure about it. I receive many low budget piles of rubbish. This one is by far the most professional independent film I've ever had the pleasure to review.

What really adds to "The Local" is the clear plot of a single protagonist, somewhat of an anti-hero. Ritchie's films are beautiful, and carry a lot of star power, but Eberle cuts through the tangled intertwining plots to deliver one distinct narrative. Yes, there are still multiple characters with multiple motives, which really adds to the story... but we never have to keep track of five different plots to make sure we understand where they lead.

You like drug dealer films? Mafia films? Gun fights? Fist fights? This has it all, in the grimy streets to rundown apartment complexes. Beautiful cinematography and a respectable score. There's no reason "The Local" couldn't have been released in theaters across the country. Believe me, I've seen a lot worse in the cinema. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of this film if you are into this sort of genre... "The Local" could be a cult favorite someday soon.

Gritty and good

[ddbii · 10/10 · 30 November 2009]

This movies musical equivalent would be Raw Power by Iggy Pop on first listen it seems too gritty and haphazard but you can't deny the genius. You start thinking about how with a little work you could really market this stuff to the masses. But eventually you come to your senses and realize you would never listen to crap that they market to the masses anyway Everyone in this film looks as if they need of a good scrubbing and a shot of penicillin. Dan Eberle is amazing take Vin Diesel combine him with a street addict than beat your creation with a sock full of nickels and you've got the character he plays. Unfortunately I think this movie will be lost on a lot of folks. I remember reading In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway for the first time and didn't know what the hell was going on till I realized that each story was a vignette. This movie is much the same we pop in somewhere in the middle and things go from there. Dan Eberle has created a character that is a lot more than he's letting on and is seeking redemption for things only alluded. I know everyone's gonna puke but I really would like to see more of this character to fill in a few of the gaps. This movie succeeds in capturing the feel of the street a lot like Taxi Driver did in the 70's and Dan Eberle could be the anti hero model for the New Millennium.

This is more reality...

[logomito · 9/10 · 21 November 2009]

Wow, one comment on such a movie, hard to believe it, because it's great.

First, it takes a lot of guts to release a movie so atypical compared to the "hollywood stuff" were watching normally. No stunts, no great looking actors, no digital tricks, no commercial music, no brilliant colors, not even a pleasant hero.

Nevertheless this film offers something, that most of the 1a productions lack off: Credibility!

Dan Eberle plays a loser, who is selling his soul for thirty bucks a day to work as a courier for drug dealers. If that would nor be bad enough, every time he jobs something goes wrong and he ends up beaten up, without money and with even more problems than he had the day before. Nobody is respecting him or taking him for serious. The only thing he seems to be able to manage in his life is his addiction to drugs, he is clean.

So what's so interesting about this film? Well, the fact that it could be a real story, something that really happens every day in every part of the world. The dirty truth, ugly, bloody, revolting and pitiful...

But very interesting, like when two people have a fight in front of you... you can't stop watching, you just stare at it motionless although you don't support it.

Do yourself a favor and watch this movie, it's original, brutal and somehow very fascinating. I will keep my copy and watch it again, what not happens to often.

Watch It (Possible spoilers??)

[dominic-harrison-1 · 8/10 · 23 November 2009]

If you get the chance to watch this film then do so, you won't regret it. If you think you're taking a chance, you're not, its a great film.

I thought that the acting was strong from the main character and the writing flowed nicely for me, I wasn't left bored or wondering why I was bothering to watch a film I'd never heard of, which happens to me a fair bit.

I also loved the ending; a little cheesy without a doubt but still very cool never the less.

I'd say if you liked the wire you'd be into this film. I'd also recommend it actually to fans of any American modern crime drama series.

Not to sound like some dumb film watcher but it did have some cool violent scenes too, what violence there was was done with style or brutality or both.

A great movie with actors who are naturals

[Gendarmist · 9/10 · 28 March 2010]

I was bored with Hollywood fare and began looking for something different. This is the perfect example to keep you excited on a Sunday. I was totally engrossed in the movie. I was once beset with hard times, picked myself up and this is the part I relate to most in the movie. But that road is long and hard. Thank the lord my path to success was not the same one this character had to follow. The Director portrayed the route perfectly. The characters look like they are straight out of my personal nightmare. I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying this movie. It was powerful. Some of the actors look like they are coming direct from the streets. You simply cannot predict your own feelings at the end of this movie. Everything in this movie is a metaphor. I cannot wait to see more movies with the main character, the writers and the director. Absolutely a great movie made on a small budget. Amazing!

Intense film, very well done on all levels

[dixie-35 · 10/10 · 28 May 2012]

Reminded me of The Bourne Supremacy, but much better because the sense of reality this film brings. This was an intense ride from beginning to end.

I was surprised to discover that Dan Eberle is the writer, and also the director and star, WOW. He has a very firm grasp of what he wants, what he's doing, the craft, very difficult to pull all these roles off and very few do it well. My hat's off to you Daniel, you're a very talented young man, keep it up.

Pay no mind to those that dissed this film, they sound jealous and ignorant.

I love that there are no stars in it. ALL the actors are excellent and totally believable, DP, color and edit, just really great stuff.