[ONE NIGHT ONLY, DIRECTOR ATTENDING] In January 2003, 18-year-old Portlander Benjamin Cramer murdered his girlfriend, Cassondra Brown, in a fit of rage, dismembering her body in his bathtub and dumping the pieces in the Columbia River. Cramer, his family and friends are interviewed extensively in local director Jeff Streich’s first full-length film, All the Little Things. The interviews are a bit addled in their direction. Cramer’s own answers show him as John Q. Public, while his mother tearily tries to explain her irreproachable (of course) son’s actions. Cramer’s father and friends depict him as a troubled teen who redirected childhood abuse at his girlfriend. Cassie’s parents still mourn their daughter and frown upon Benjamin’s actions. There are well-developed profiles of Benjamin and Cassie here, but where is this going? Viewers may wish they knew. The audience is left, finally, at a thematic pile-up with no easy answers, nor any thoughtful questions. Streich has worked as director of photography for pulpy late-night Discovery and National Geographic television programs like Mega Disasters: West Coast Tsunami. All the Little Things would fit in well in a late-night documentary slot, too: all the content of an In Cold Blood-style crime story but without the refined touch.
Special Note
NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 31- Running Time:
- Release Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013
- Critic's Score: C
- Watch the trailer
