DADDY WAR BUCKS

Short, Drama | 2023 | USA | 21 min

In a post World War 2 Louisiana, a polish veteran is set up by his boss to scheme an old man out of his home. As the situation quickly spins out of control, the con reveals itself to be something more sinister.

IMDb | Instagram

SYNOPSIS

In sunny Sulphur, Louisiana, the year is 1951; Joseph Falchek, a young Polish-American Veteran, pulls to a halt in his bright red, 250 Packard. He stumbles away from the car, his gaunt frame masked by a blood- covered tuxedo... Our story continues hours earlier, Nicky Leroux, a middle aged mortgage banker and the head of Falchek's department plants himself in the backseat of his car. They are seated behind an ornate restaurant. Leroux then promises him a promotion if he can take care of a favor for him inside the restaurant. The setup is simple: Help an old man get his house sold without all of the legal constraints that would normally burden him. Falchek reluctantly agrees. As Falchek enters the ornate private dining room, he is introduced to the old man, Mr. Morgan. The two exchange pleasantries, and after a bit of small-talk, Morgan urges Falchek to begin his sales pitch. A puzzled Falchek informs him that he had been summoned to help him sell his home. A seething Mr. Morgan begins to quietly berate Falchek, insulting his polish heritage, and threatening to show him violence worse than that of his people in Nazi-occupied Poland. As the conflict escalates, the three men are intertwined in a scheme that uncovers past histories and ultimately promises that there will be blood.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

"I wrote 'Daddy War Bucks' in 2022 when I was 18 years old. It was a time in my life when I felt stuck in a dead-end job, consistently berated and participating in day-to-day activities that held no interest for me. All the while, I was finishing film projects that I knew were a waste of time and money. Fresh out of high school, I had nothing to show for it, and my teenage angst got the better of me during that short period.

At that time, I discovered a very niche genre of movie-making that I found particularly unique: the adaptation of plays into films. Immediately, I was taken with adaptations of works by Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill, David Mamet, etc. Having studied film in high school, this new method of making movies opened my mind to films dominated by larger-than-life characters, contained locations, and dialogue-driven stories that utilized complex blocking and ingenious camera use. What better—and more affordable—application of this style than into short film form?

Over the course of a hot summer month in Texas, the script poured out of me. I mention Texas because I am a Texas native, which might raise eyebrows considering the film is rooted in Louisiana and its culture. This aspect of the film is deeply personal, as my father hails from Sulphur, Louisiana, the small town where the film is set. This was a deliberate choice from the start, not frivolous, as the film evolves into a story of a troubled father/son dynamic—a theme many young men and women can relate to.

The period in which the film is set, the 1950s, was also intentional for multiple reasons. It was the decade my father was born, and it also saw a boom in adaptations from stage to screen. To me, 'Daddy War Bucks' is a story about post-war disillusionment, depicting an aimless cast of characters who, despite having nothing in common, desperately try to fit into a country, even a world, that has alienated them."

— Jake Abraham