In the sweltering heat of an expansive desert without a soul in sight, a pair dig in the sand. This is no country for old men, nor young ones, either; the strapping pair are exhausted and in need of water. But when Dave (Eric McIntire) tracks down the menacing crew boss in mirror shades called Dobroth (Charles Maze) and asks to refill his canteen, he’s met with a barrage of abuse and told to get back to work.
The taut short film “Day9” is about an excavation that’s now several days past an agreement Dobroth made with his hired crew. They’re running low on supplies and nerves are frayed. There’s Dave’s digging partner Reginald (Kelcey Watson) and two laborers at another site, Dr. Strickland (Johanna Watts) who’s the target of Dobroth’s lewd, sexist insults and Mason (Will Laupardus) who risks retaliation as he resists Dobroth’s command that the workers keep searching.
Director Dastan Khalili and writer Damion Stephens build tension in the short running time. It’s clear the action is headed to a showdown but the twist is surprising and clever enough that it can’t be spoiled.
Dobroth, we learn, is an eccentric multimillionaire who’s enlisted these folks with promises of adventure and a payoff of riches buried in the middle of nowhere. But by day 9, the crew is convinced Dobroth is unhinged. He’s become Captain Queeg, the man in power gone mad.
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