The Playground | |
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Directed by | Edreace Purmul |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Roger Sogues |
Music by | Sami Matar |
Production company | SplitWorld Pictures |
Distributed by | Indie Rights |
Release date |
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Running time | 151 minutes |
Country | USA |
Language | English |
The Playground is a 2017 American thriller film directed by Edreace Purmul. The film was written by Purmul, Ramona Frye and Dean Mounir. It stars Myles Cranford, Merrick McCartha, Shane P. Allen, Christopher Salazar and Ghadir Mounib. The film won Best Narrative Feature at the San Diego Film Awards and was distributed by Indie Rights.
The story follows Joseph, Grandison, Jack, Jill and Mr. Vaugn. Joseph is a priest grappling with his morals. Grandison is an eager bum down on his luck. Jack is a convict, married to Jill, his frustrated wife. Mr. Vaugn is a business man whose fortune is slipping away. They all struggle against their inner demons while crossing paths in a fable orchestrated by a dark entity.
Purmul began writing the script in 2013, inspired by questions around mass shootings in America. He created his own version of the Devil based on archetypes from ancient fables and integrated it into the characters. [2]
The cast is mostly made up of San Diego based actors. The film plays out like an anthology, observing five separate stories. Purmul says his elevator pitch for the film is Pulp Fiction meets The Devil's Advocate. [3]
The film released on October 21, 2017. [4] It was distributed by Indie Rights. [5]
Richard Propes of The Independent Critic says that Purmul has "crafted a film of tremendous vision and intentionality," [6] scoring it 3 out of 4. [4] Don Shanahan at Every Movie Has a Lesson admits "it is a film to respect more than enjoy" [7] scoring the film 3 out of 5 stars. [4] Shirley Rodriguez at Independent Film Now said "the true playground we discover is the world itself and its inhabitants." [8]
The film won Best Narrative Feature Film at the San Diego Film Awards in 2016. [9]
Fables is an American comic book series created and written by Bill Willingham, published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. Willingham served as sole writer for its entirety, with Mark Buckingham penciling more than 110 issues. The series featured various other pencillers over the years, most notably Lan Medina and Steve Leialoha. Fables was launched in July 2002 and concluded in July 2015. It was revived in 2022 with a 12-issue continuation to the main series, as well as a 6-issue spin-off miniseries Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham, both published under DC Black Label.
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