Led by a fearless Nicole Pastor, Freelance delivers gritty psychological thriller filmmaking that is uncompromising and engaging.
“What’s the most shameful job you ever had?” Ask this question to any freelancer working in the entertainment industry and prepare for a depressing answer. The life of a freelancer is not an easy one with more rejection than reward, and at times those rewards are not worth the hassle. It’s a form of employment without a safety net that can often depend on the kindness of strangers in a world where strangers are not so kind.
For Katie (Nicole Pastor) her work as a freelance film editor has her cutting porn to make ends meet. Near destitute, a desperate Katie agrees to take a job by an anonymous employer to cut several two-minute clips for a high dollar amount. The scenes feature violent imagery of torture and murder. They are also real, placing Katie in a moral and ethical crossroads where she must ask herself: what is the price for your soul?
Directed by John Balazs (Rage) and written by Mike Gerbino (Dark Justice), Freelance has a gritty ‘70s character driven spirit told through a ‘90s thriller aesthetic. Although dealing with the very grindhouse subject of the snuff film, Balazs makes the wise decision not to go down the exploitation route, instead focusing on the psychological implications of taking blood-money in exchange for framing the explicit murderous actions of a psychopath into a nicely cut digital package.
Burgeoning actress Nicole Pastor delivers a commanding performance that demands much in the way of physical and emotional vulnerability. Plagued by nightmares and wrecked with paranoia, Pastor’s Katie is a jangle of nerves and self-loathing, while also a character we hope can backtrack from a path taken into a dark and twisted sub-culture of murder, money and madness.
Freelance demands introspection regarding whether our own appetites for sex and violence in the content that we watch have stained our minds and souls. Balazs doesn’t provide any easy answers, but with Freelance he does deliver challenging questions in a satisfyingly challenging psychological thriller.
