By Terry Sherwood
Life burnout, Job burnout, vacation burnout, and relationship burnout take your pick of those experiences and headlines in the world. Being in a “Burnout” in of high-speed car can be utterly fun and dangerous. Along with having your heat pushed into your rib cage, you get that intense odour of lubricant, rubber and even bits of the tire. What if that was not rubber and auto parts but human flesh? Bit different yes, it is since in the high-performance car has been pushed so has the human. Welcome to the short film Burn Out (2024) where a former high-performance human faces a critical moment in the corporate workplace with smoking consequences
Director and writer Russell Goldman tells the story of former American football player Virgil (Everett Osborne), an assistant at a sports management company, who will do anything to get his presentation in front of his boss Gower (Tommie Earl Jenkins). Vigil ‘left it all on the field’ giving his all on plays, catches, blocking and even part of his brains. Now working in a new career, he wants to be a manager, producing a presentation with unexpected consequences. Talk of ‘igniting the offence’ or his team takes on a whole new meaning. The resolution after hard work that is looked over with not much commitment, given the circular file a smile and remedy will cause you to think nothing is impossible.
“Burn Out captures the absurdity of the corporate world and what one does to get ahead. That burning desire to climb the ladder of success in a high-stakes game suddenly goes up in flames. What do you do, you stick with it, you take the pain, you smile and suddenly everything is alright. The film is swiftly directed in the atmosphere of the large office. People do their business even when the hell breaks loose, offering no help only angry looks. The little self-centered worldview of people who that’s nice what it does for me and how can I use it.
The two actors all handle the satirical situation with aplomb even the oddness of the solution in a cabinet that holds a ghastly secret. It’s not steroids, a juiced ball, a hollow head bat, or secret stick’em for those hands and uniforms.
Rod Serling said it best about hard success from Patterns.
‘What do you want from me? Apologies? I don’t apologize. What else? A nice unsullied conscience? You walk out of here with a halo because you spoke your mind? What do you do then? Go to work for some nickel-and-dime outfit run by nice people who won’t challenge you and prod you and goad you and drive you to a height you never even dreamed of? A company where there’s nothing to fight for because you’re the best and there’s no competition? Where is everything handed to you and nothing is worth fighting for? I want you to stay.’
Burn Out (2024) has Jamie Lee Curtis and Film Independent as a producer with a look of shock and a fun little twist that is smouldering as the line ‘ You don’t have to feel this way’. Put this on a shake your world.
Bloody Flicks 