The Magic Bomb by Jonny Numb

(While Crash Palace Productions tends to focus primarily on horror media, we occasionally look at independent productions outside the genre. With The Magic Bomb, writer-director Randy Gordon-Gatica delivers an intelligent thriller on a “zero dollar” budget. The plot hinges on a sense of paranoia, terrorist threat, and tangled human drama that should appeal to adventurous genre fans.)

Contemporary Fears

There is more power in the unassuming than the overt, which is perhaps why I like my films a bit on the ambiguous side. I’m considerably less impressed when a filmmaker hammers me over the head with exact points to ensure I “get it.” The Magic Bomb is an intriguing clash of disparate approaches: on one hand, there’s a race-against-time urgency to its plot…but there’s also scenes where characters ponder, scheme, and otherwise share their emotions for minutes on end.

The film touches on contemporary fears through the POV of immigrant protagonist Conrad (Jonathan Iglesias). While some technical elements are rough around the edges, therein lies the paradox: the flaws help maintain a certain verisimilitude, which extends to authentic Manhattan locations and characters that feel lived-in. In everyday existence, humans get tripped up in their own personal traps, whether it be the politics that govern romance, survivalist paranoia, employment fears…or the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Claustrophobia and Conflict

Gordon-Gatica creates a world that feels increasingly claustrophobic, as he posits the thesis that the larger catastrophes that befall civilization grow from the seeds of smaller, more interpersonal conflicts. Films like The Manchurian Candidate make the potential upheaval of life in the United States feel very real, and if anything, The Magic Bomb creates a similar mood with considerably fewer resources.

Conrad is living with Clara (Nicole Palermo), but also has feelings for Lisa (Maria Jung), whom he met-cute at a party. He’s employed under the table by an agoraphobic, conspiracy-theorizing racist (Kenny Nowell), whose rants he tolerates in the name of capital. As the film begins, Conrad is greeted by a duffel bag containing the titular device (designed to “flatten Manhattan”) and a threatening phone call from Alden (Marcial Urena), a member of a shadowy organization with deep roots in global history.

The Uncertainty of 2020

Though the aesthetics feel synchronous with the reality of the story, there are some lovely stylized moments that evoke Film Noir (on at least two occasions, characters are filmed in long shot while surrounded by darkness), and the over-arcing plot is the “wrong man in wrong place at wrong time” combination that Hitchcock favored. I also liked the recurring visual ellipsis of trains passing each other on opposing tracks, and periodic close-ups of characters who appear to be following Conrad.

I warmed to Iglesias as the in-over-his-head protagonist, and he receives solid support from the ensemble. There is a late-occurring scene with Conrad and the mysterious Kiel (Benjamin John Burbidge), who gets an energetic, fascinating monologue. The odd rhythm of the dialog, with specific words and phrases repeated during single interactions, reminded me of some of David Mamet’s concept-driven directorial efforts (Heist and Redbelt in particular).

But The Magic Bomb is most interesting in how it captures the uncertainties of 2020 – which, perhaps, have always been our uncertainties (crumbling faith in leadership; crises going unaddressed; rampant injustice). At the end of the day, it’s the individual’s desire to prolong their life without threat of intimidation that drives much of human condition. When a character gives Conrad a mysterious box and states, “think of the contents…as pure evil…but use it for good,” it’s as apt a summary as any of humankind’s perpetual struggle to do the right thing.

(The Magic Bomb is currently streaming on Vimeo “for a 1978 ticket price.”)