Welcome to Detroit.
Elvis doesn’t have much in his life. As the landlord, everyone of his renters owes him rent. He has to debt to pay to a local bookie. He’s sleeping with his friend’s wife. He allows one of his renters to grow pot. Yet the character of Elvis (Nikola Shreli) is somewhat charismatic. He never seems to completely go off the deep end. He’s willing to put up with his renters, even with the single mom that only insults him and never pays him a dime.
There’s one good, pure, clean thing that Elvis keeps in his life and that’s his daughter. So after he finds out through closed circuit cameras that the single mom actually has a hidden cache of cash, he finally decides to evict her. But that money belongs to an mobster that runs illegal dog fights. And to persuade Elvis to bring him the money back, he will take his daughter hostage.
Director Malik Bader brings us Cash Only, a film written by Nikola Shreli who also plays the main character. It’s crime story about a man who suddenly gets the one person he loves taken from him just to realize he will now have to obtain every single scrap of cash from every possible person by any means necessary. It’s also a bit of a moral lesson, the one thing that is sacred to you is the one thing you will be willing to sell your soul to get back.
Recommended if you are fan of stories of redemption, or of crime stories without any glitter or gloss. Don’t expect car chases or explosions, this is more of a story that could happen any other day.
That will do for now.
(Sources: Fantasia International Film Festival)
Never Think Impossible 