Andre (Andre Keuck) and Cal (Calvin Robertson) seem like fairly ordinary high school students. Andre is a quiet loner, and he's a bit obsessed with munitions. Cal, Andre's only friend, is slightly more adept socially. He even has a friend, Rachel (Rachel Benichak), who's a girl. But Andre and Cal have big plans. They're going to be famous one day. And they're going to teach what they see as a valuable lesson to everyone at their hated high school. Zero Day, the feature debut of Benjamin Coccio,
is presented as a collection of videotaped moments leading up to Cal and Andre's planned murderous assault on their school. Cal and Andre are creating a video diary of sorts, which they keep in a safe deposit box, to be opened after their horrific deed is done. The film follows Andre and Cal as they explain their plan -- both the logistics of it and, to some extent, the motivations behind it -- and prepare for their violent act. In the interest of verisimilitude, the lead actors' families play themselves, and cast members, for the most part, were not told the larger context of their roles. Zero Day was a controversial hit on the festival circuit before being picked up for distribution. It won Best Feature at the 2003 Slamdunk Film Festival and the Audience Award at the 2003 Rhode Island International Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
My reaction to Zero Day closely mirrored my reaction to Gus Van Sant's Elephant. Neither film tries to exploit tragedy, but I'm not sure either succeeds in telling us much we don't already know.
Mr. Coccio's conclusions -- or lack thereof -- may seem a little pat at times, but as a pseudo-case study of adolescent ego and aimless nihilism channeled into a fit of violence, it's like a bucket of ice water in the face.
Writer-director Ben Coccio has made an intensely immediate, meticulously detailed bone-chiller -- it haunts you long after you've wished it would go away.
Andre: Ready? Calvin: Aim...While Zero Day isn't a pleasant film, it is a very well made film. It's extremely realistic in every way and is based off of the Columbine shootings. The two kids Andre and Cal are troubled and finally break and devise a plan that they call Zero Day. The two actors, Andre Keuck and Calvin
Robertson are very believable in their roles. The buildup to Zero Day is made with patience and is as important as the events at the end. We learn how they will execute their plan, we see them around their parents, and we see how they interact with each other. They talk like they are in the military; even calling themselves The Army of Two and saying everything they do is a mission. The ending is incredibly well-done and ultra-realistic. It's shocking, chilling, haunting, and disturbing. This kind of stuff has happened before and the way the filmmaker tackled the ending was respectful. He didn't show too much, but just enough. This movie really does deserve to be taken seriously and to be seen by more people.
July 17, 2011
Melvin White
Super Reviewer
Shockingly, ultra realistic take on the Columbine-like shootings. A harrowing, raw and frightening experience. This is a must see!
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