PACING THE CAGE is the feature directing debut of former sports photographer E.B. Hughes. It's a miniature character portrait of a middle-aged man opening up to love and trying to overcome his addictions, demons and criminal past. It tells the story of ex-con Max Lyons (Denny Bess), who upon returning to 'normal' society is faced with an unpaid debt to a vicious gangster (Mark Borkowski), a heroin habit and and depressing employment prospects. Max must somehow find a way to start again and get off the road that put him in prison.
Hughes favours very naturalistic performances that open up the
awkwardness of human interactions. Denny Bess creates a vividly soulful, sweet
but palpably tough character that makes the audience invest
in his story. Mark Borkowski is chilling as the livewire, unpredictable gangster
Lucius Jones. The first part of the film is very low-key and intimate, but upon
Borkowski's arrival, the rest of the film has a palpable tension
even when Borkowski isn't in a scene. Hughes is also good with female actors,
drawing a very real performance out of Reyna Kahan, whose performance as the
sensitive, vulnerable Sara, Max's new love, is a standout.
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Paul Rowlands is a Japan-based writer. After completing a BA Humanities course (majoring in English and Science) at the University of Chester, he moved to Japan in 1999. He writes for the James Bond magazine, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, has had articles published on Press Play and has had an almost lifelong obsession with cinema, something the advent of DVD only increased. Paul is also a writer of so far unpublished short stories and novels, and is planning his first short film.
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