Review from TCWReviews.com

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‘Independent Critic’ Review

Richard Propes, aka The Independent Critic, has posted a very thoughtful review of the movie.  An excerpt:

What you perhaps cannot imagine, “The Lionshare” takes for granted. What used to seem foreign is now an essential part of our being, and its Bernhard’s ability to make this all seem so freakin’ ordinary that makes “The Lionshare” an effective piece of cinema.

With music at its very core, “The Lionshare” feels like a film that belongs in the MTV universe. Featuring stellar original tunes by cast member Bracey Smith, “The Lionshare” plays out like a unique mixing of traditional cinema, performance art, poetry and coffeehouse concert. It’s as if Bernhard visited his local coffeehouse, listened to the conversations going on amidst the music and created a film based upon the everyday lives of its inhabitants.

Read the rest here.

Oh right, the press kit

For reasons I can’t quite figure out, until tonight I had neglected to put together a press kit to send out with the movie. Straightforward enough, just some basic information, stills, etc, all packaged together in .pdf form for easy reference to anyone be they film festival judges or reviewers.

I’m going to be adding to it, things like cast/crew bios, and a longer, more detailed synopsis, among other things.  I’ll post it soon, right now I’m having some server issues.

And I know I keep saying this, but the DVD will be dropping very soon.  Promise.  Tell all your friends to hold their breath.

The Lionshare wins an Indie, plus DVD news

I was notified the other day by mail that The Lionshare has won an award from The Indie Fest.  Very cool to win an award for something we all worked so hard on.  The coolest part to me, though, is now I get to plaster this little logo to the left on everything in sight.  When you win something you tape it to your face, or something like that.  This also comes just in time for the DVD packaging, which I am about to begin designing.  Speaking of the DVD…

I’ve been chugging along on getting the DVD finished.  I’ve been working to make sure that there’s as much extra content on the disc as possible so that people will really get something special when they buy it.  I recorded a commentary track last week over a few glasses of wine, and aside from realizing that I smack my lips way too often, I think it came out pretty good.  Commentary tracks are one of my favorite features on DVDs, and I’ve listened to my fair share, so I was very excited about getting the chance to record my own and I wanted it to be a good one.  Though I have to say I think it owes a lot, in tone and style, to Ronald D. Moore’s podcast commentaries for Battlestar Galactica.  So thanks, Ron.  (Did I ever mention that he mentioned me, by name, in one of those podcasts?  Apparently I started a trend of gifting him scotch and cigarettes.)

But anyway, yeah, all I have left are the chapter sub-menus, finishing the subtitles, and designing the packaging.  One of the cool features, I think, is a short featurette about BitTorrent and the future of media that I culled from the free footage made available by the makers of Steal This Film.  Here’s that, also available in HD if you follow to the YouTube page:

Full Text of Binghamton Free Press Review

Binghamton alumnus’ “The Lionshare” is perfect way to end the year

By CLAIRE WILSON
Impact Editor

Harpur Film Society’s last showing for the Spring 2009 semester was perfectly suited. “The Lionshare,” written and directed by Binghamton alumni Josh Bernhard, is yet another coming of age tale dealing with college students and computers, yet has a level of genuine heart and unassuming humor that will certainly pull at the heartstrings no matter what stage in life you are at. Especially anyone who has sent their crush a message online and practically melted while waiting for their response.

At only 61 minutes in running time, the movie is the perfect length for the story to be engaging despite the fact that the plot is extremely simple. While the characters certainly begin with what has become a cliche beginning (the infamous ‘first time’ with online dating), each persona holds its own as the movie progresses, and each actor proves their value. Mike Pantozzi plays Nick, the without-a-cause film maker with hopeful eyes and a rusty talent. His two friends, Matty (played by Jonathan Hansen) and Bracey (played by Bracey Smith) are fantastic -the chemistry between the male friends was handmade for what would certainly be considered ‘bromance.’ The romances presents typical college/ mid-20s dilemmas; including the fun, the aimless, and the confused. And when Nick says in a heartbreaking voice, “You just knew it was going to end this way,” while speaking of a website that was shut down for copyright investigations, it is an exact representation of how we have become attached to our electronics.

Matty also has a side story about family issues interpreted mainly from one-sided phone calls. It is refreshing to see a college story include not just friendship and relationships but also family dynamics, without having one totally take over. The movie’s concentration on the day-to-day decisions, emotions, and nothingness of trying to figure out what exactly to do with your life is its true achievement -because it does all of this without making you fear your own decisions, as well as playing out the scenes with enough pace to keep you interested.

The music in the movie is a main player, between Bracey Smith’s originals and the discussions of bands, it ties together the characters’ stories and the background tracks. In one scene, random shots of strangers are walking around to a song proclaiming “I am being taken over by machines,” and it takes a few seconds to realize what they all have in common -iPods.

In a subtle way, one of the character’s ‘inside’ jokes spreads to further removed groups of friends, and again the power of our cyber pathways are revealed. Both good (record labels signing you up after hearing your work online) and bad (someone steals your work…that wasn’t copyrighted in the first place) aspects of electronics are involved in the movie, making it ultimately realistic, rather than harping on just one side of the story. With silent scenes of intimacy, scenes of Binghamton campus, humorous encounters, and charmingly awkward scenes, “The Lionshare” has the capability of becoming a quiet college sensation.  •

This appeared in the May 7, 2009 issue of the Binghamton Free Press.  Not bad for a first review, I’d say.  The running time is actually 65 minutes, by the way.  They have yet to update their website with the latest issue, unfortunately.

Special thanks to Mickey Dobbin for ferrying the paper all the way from Binghamton, and for programming the event for Harpur Film Society last month.