“Peppermint” by Jesse Cook III

“Peppermint” is a refined short film of rare cinematographic value. The solid staging, which recalls the suggestions of a classic American style is evidently a sign of the artistic maturity of its author, Jesse Cook III. Even before the story told by the film reaches the viewer deeply, the elegant and suggestive cinematographic form strikes him. This would already be enough to distinguish “Peppermint” from many other short films, which fail to achieve the same formal completeness. But the film is not a mere stylistic exercise. In a harmony of elements, every aspect contributes to staging a complex human, sagacious and engaging drama, in completely new ways.

The complex and ruthless American political machine looms over the desperately human affairs of Candace Van Houten and his collaborators. In telling us this brave story, Cook never neglects the most exquisitely narrative aspects of the story and, both as a writer and as a director, he also gives us an engaging film full of tension and twists. If the film manages to be a work of author and entertainment at the same time, it is also thanks to the amazing care for acting and editing. These two aspects contribute to creating a meticulous and fundamental structure of extremely enjoyable narrative rhythms. Despite only 27 minutes in length, this film is worthy of the big screen and achieves an artistic completeness of undoubted value in all its aspects..