How to Make a Dollar Bill in Brooklyn Review

Sometimes a film can take an audiences hostage for its entire runtime, never letting go of their attention. This doesn’t occur often in the realm of short films. Most of the short films I’ve seen at festivals seem like they struggle to provide their audience with a complete story. A lot of the time short films seem more like a singular scene that has been pulled from a feature film, but as stand alone movies these scenes have a difficult time holding an audience’s attention. Mousa Kraish’s short film How to Make a Dollar Bill in Brooklyn not only held my attention, in my opinion it raised the bar for short filmmakers everywhere.

The story is a simple one. Two friends from the wrong side of the tracks are at a crossroads in their relationship. One of them is trying to change his life for the better by leaving the small time criminal’s life behind. While the other cemented in the lifestyle, completely happy living out his days as a small-time hood.

From the very first frame I was completely enthralled with How to Make a Dollar Bill in Brooklyn. The cinematography is beautiful, and the acting is solid. The fact that this is Mousa’s first film is mind-boggling. He has a strong eye as a director and makes decisions that effect the film in a positive way. I was impressed how fluid the film is, and also by the incredible use of dialogue. Most of the time in short films, dialogue can make a film fall flat on its face, but the dialogue in How to Make a Dollar Bill in Brooklyn is so well written that not once did I doubt the background of the characters.

Mousa Kraish is positively a talent to watch, and his first film is a testament to his ability behind the camera. If you get a chance to see How to Make a Dollar Bill in Brooklyn take it because it is most definitely a killer film.

Rating:

Donny Broussard

I enjoy the types of films that used to dominate late night television in the '80s, spending time with my family, filmmaking, photography, Rubik's Cubes, Diet Pepsi, building old Shogun Warriors model kits, Canon cameras, comic books, AOR, coconut ice cream, mac & cheese, cold pizza, popcorn, nachos, UL Football tailgating, film festivals, reading, Barry Manilow (don't ask), films with both Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase in them, Alf, Pac Man, 1979 Trans AMs, beer, Godzilla, Hooters (both the restaurant and ones girls like to keep hidden), and Bigfoot (he's real). I'm just saying.

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