There’s an art to making a decent film with next to no money. You have to be creative with what you do have. For In Action, writer/directors/stars Sean Kenealy and Eric Silvera just have themselves and a neat story, and it works so well.

We’re thrown straight into the heart of the story as Kenealy and Silvera are tied up in their underwear in what appears to be an interrogation room. How did they get there? Well, we’re shown that they were old friends who meet up again at a mutual friend’s wedding. They decide to write a screenplay for an action film, with the action taking place at the wedding of the President’s daughter. After weeks of emailing ideas back and forth, they team up for what they hope to be a fruitful writing session, until… well, that’s where we came in.

Full of energy and verbal fireworks, this two-hander is like watching an improvisation troupe having fun as they make it all up as they go along. It’s clearly a carefully scripted piece, though, with wonderful wordplay and ingenious staging. With just two actors (and the occasional ‘shot from behind’ extra), it’s full of film references and it’s obvious that the pair are having fun with the material. The movie’s subtitle – A Gimmick to Film a Movie Over Some Weekends With No Money – sums it all up and could describe most indie films. Locations are reused and redressed, scenes are played out in animation form, and action takes place just off-screen to give the impression of a bigger scenario playing out that we’re missing out on. It’s simple but it works thanks to the fact the characters’ relationship and dialogue is believable.

The acting is so energetic that it’s infectious and makes us wonder why the conceit hasn’t been done to death already. In being so upfront with the lack of resources, the pair end up with a film that looks much more than the sum of its parts. The bar has been set that little bit higher for low budget filmmakers.

Release Date: May 11th (US Digital)