Welcome to “Your Weekly Short,” a LakeFrontRow.com feature that showcases one short from a Wisconsin filmmaker each week, every week. Brace thy face.
On first impression, Marion native (and Wildwood Film Festival co-founder) Craig Knitt’s “The Con Job” (2010) seems lightweight. Its mise-en-scene, that of a tan mini-van and an unassuming “lemonaid” stand, is comfortably suburban just as the van’s driver (Knitt) sports some Midwestern summer fashion with his ankle-high tube socks and floral patterned shirt. The child actors, Grace Kriewaldt and Eden Brennan, don’t immediately ring as genuine either (though they are just kids). When Knitt pulls over to the side of the road for some emergency refreshment, their delivery of “Don’t call my dad!” seems innocent, but in that bashful way where children shrink in front of too much attention. Even their sign is misspelled. Who would expect anything but harmless innocence from these neighborhood kids?
That question is where Knitt has the most fun. After draining a glass, his stingy mook refuses to pay the girls on account of his $100 bill (we soon see that he’s got plenty of green in that wallet). Despite the girls’ pleas (their dog “Peanut” is ill), Knitt remains on his cheapskate high horse until he backs over what appears to be their sick pooch. Credit is due to Green Bay composer Kevin MacLeod’s scoring, which keeps “The Con Job” bouncy with lighthearted pep. There’s a subtle bumbling quality that plays behind this terribly strained transaction, but MacLeod lays on the melodrama thick with a piano and guitar after Peanut’s demise.
To avoid spoiling any details, “The Con Job’s” final swerve is more cute than a slick plot twist, but it’s also a clever decision on Knitt’s part, anticipating the unpredictability of younger actors by injecting mischief into a premise that’s not as sweet as it seems.