By: debbie lynn elias
Who among us hasn’t used an ATM machine? Who has used one of the free-standing ATM kiosks scattered in parking lots across the country? Take these two questions and put them in the hands of screenwriter Chris Sparling (he gave us Ryan Reynolds in Buried) and first time feature director David Brooks and we’ve got ourselves an exciting premise for a film – a thriller of a film – with phenomenal possibilities. And for much of the film, Brooks meets those possibilities with edge of your seat excitement before leaving us with the biggest unanswered question of the day – WHY?
David, Corey and Eve all work in various financial departments of a stock brokerage company. David and Corey are actual brokers and Eve does something “in finance.” Meeting up at the company Christmas party, it’s been somewhat of a bittersweet day for them all. David has long had a crush on Eve but has too afraid to talk to her and he has now learned, today is her last day at the company. Adding insult to injury, David just lost one man’s entire 401K in a bad investment, enraging the customer to the point of him slamming the phone and terminating the call with David. Corey, David’s friend and a condescending obnoxious character, always seems to be scamming for something and lacks any sincerity or concern for others unless it benefits him. And Eve, while very pretty, seems somewhat secretive and distant.
As Eve leaves the party, David makes his one and only last ditch effort to get a date from Eve. And while he doesn’t exactly get a date with her, she does accept his offer of a ride home in the frigid night air. Of course, Corey, more than inebriated from the party, is also demanding that David give him a ride home, which David begrudgingly does. Irritating both David and Eve, Corey continues to make demands. He wants food. Pizza. He has no money. He wants to borrow money. He refuses to go home until he gets his pizza. Having no cash himself – and the pizza place doesn’t take credit cards – David compromises and takes Corey to an ATM at 2AM.
Off the beaten track and out in the middle of an empty parking lot, the ATM is one of the freestanding glass kiosks. Surely there must be an ATM in a more “inhabited” area, but Corey insists that this is the closest one of the pizza place. Pulling into the parking lot, one notes the temperature is 5 below 0, which makes perfect sense when David parks the car at least 3 rows back and away from the ATM. (No, it doesn’t, but he does.) Oblivious to the area around them, Corey trots from the car to the ATM kiosk leaving David and Eve in the car.
Seeming to take forever, David now runs halfway across the parking lot to see what’s taking so long. Corey is dallying, claiming his ATM card doesn’t work. (Is he just cheap? Or does the card really not work, but then how did he get into the kiosk?) Herself now getting skittish and cold, Eve quickly joins the boys. And then it happens.
As the group gets ready to leave, standing in the parking lot just staring at them, covered from head to toe in a parka is an unidentifiable man. What does he want? Who is he? He’s just standing there. As palpable fear sets in, the group sees a man walking his dog at the far side of the parking lot. Banging on the glass and yelling, they hope to get his attention. All they do is bring unwanted attention to him as the hooded stranger runs over to him and kills him.
David, Corey and Eve are prisoners. But why?
As the clock ticks towards daylight and temperatures outside continue to drop, the murderer taunts them. He attacks the kiosk. He cuts off the heat. He sabotages their car. With mounting tension, allegiances within the ATM are forged, only to fall apart. Suspicion and blame reign supreme. Panic sets in. Fear brings the trio together only to have suspicion tear them apart. Interestingly, they are freezing to death, yet none of them hug and hold each other for warmth which is the first rule when in freezing temps. The suspicion is that great.
But always omnipresent is the elephant in the room – WHY? Why is the ATM under attack? Is it the ATM? Is it one of the three inside? Why kill the man walking his dog? Or a security guard who subsequently appears? Does the murderer have a specific target or is he just an indiscriminate killer? Don’t we all worry and look over our shoulders in the middle of the night? Aren’t we all suspicious of people out at 2AM going to the ATM in a deserted parking lot (of course never stopping to think that we are also one of those scarey individuals who is out there noticing the other people)? And why go to that ATM? And why park THAT far away from the kiosk? And who is the tall serial killer in the parka? The mind reels with questions as panic fills the audience just watching this horror unfold.
Sadly, I am disappointed with the acting from all three of the principals – Josh Peck, Brian Geraghty and Alice Eve as Corey, David and Emily, respectively. I expected more, particularly from Peck who wowed me in The Wackness. None ever really resonates with the audience. They never establish an emotional connection and as a result, I don’t care if they live or die. The tit-for-tat between Peck and Geraghty in the opening office setting is engaging and entertaining while establishing essential questions that come into play later on, but that quickly dissipates to annoyance when they all get in the car and Peck’s Corey takes on more of a suspicious nature of “what is he up to”. Alice Eve surprised me by her lack of realism and connection, and after also seeing her in the upcoming The Raven, I am concerned that she truly does lack the chops for any meaningful performance. She is no stranger to the big screen, and although ATM (and The Raven for that matter) is a completely different type of role for her and one in which she is on screen for 80% of the film along with the boys, she just never “sells” it. Geraghty brings a great element of innocence and naivete as David, but it goes nowhere other than to stress an idea of randomness for the acts that were happening. The real “star of this film is the ATM itself.
As we already know from Buried, Chris Sparling is masterful at creating and extracting tension within confining situations. Preying on the conscious and subconscious, he uses the mind to its greatest advantage while confining the focus of emotion to a limited scope of time and space. And he does so again with ATM. Key is the dialogue within the film and a concept of randomness and the “chain of events of life” as opined by the character of Emily. However, this only opens up a bigger can of worms as to the WHY behind the events of ATM and sets the mind reeling with possible answers. Adding to Sparling’s work is that of director David Brooks.
Using claustrophobic spatial relations to its utmost benefit, Brooks catapults the story into something relatable and personal to each of us. We can see ourselves in this situation. Building the set ATM with breakaway walls to facilitate lighting and filming, Brooks shoots chronologically, thus enabling him to complete seal the kiosk when our killer begins to flood our victims out. Lighting is built into the set and is natural, stark and fluorescent, mimicking the reality of ATMs in the world . It is beyond effective in setting the tone and tension.
I am ecstatic with the sleek, steel cold, icy palette of the ATM and the slickness of the lensing. Cinematographer Bengt Jan Jonsson is a man to watch as his framing of the camera within the confining space is brilliantly executed, although I would like to have seen it even closer with greater use of close-ups to create more intensity and ratchet the fear. Totally unfamiliar with DP Jonsson before ATM, he definitely caught my attention with his stunning visual display – particularly given that 95% of the film is shot at night.
And stay for the credits!!!! The end titles are meticulously designed and extremely integral and telling in the story as a whole.
Corey – Josh Peck
David – Brian Geraghty
Emily – Alice Eve
Directed by David Brooks. Written by Chris Sparling.
