Nostradamus

Thomas Ikimi continues to show the same talent at handling atmosphere and making a small budget have a big impact that he demonstrated in Legacy: Black Ops in his latest short Nostradamus, which screened at Tribeca Film Festival last month.

The action takes place in a middle-of-nowhere diner, with the thriller vibe economically set up by a wind-driven soundscape and a terrific score from Joe Kraemer (whose work is soon to be heard by a lot more people courtesy of Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation), blending foreboding orchestral work with a smattering of something militaristic to hint at what is to come. This is the unlikely venue for a job interview. Harry Fisher (Austin Nichols) is waiting for his potential boss (Joe Holt) to show up and assess him for the role of a drone operator in the Nostradamus project of the title. But while he's waiting a woman (Amy Sloan) plonks herself opposite him, tells him her nickname is Silas and starts asking the sorts of questions that have only one answer - trouble.

Savvy thriller fans will quickly work out where the screenplay (co-written by Joshua Banta) is heading but the execution of it is very well-handled. Ikimi builds the claustrophobia, using close-up shots of his protagonists' faces to help mount tension - and Sloan has the unsettling look of a smiling crocodile. Ikimi also brings a sense of menace to the innocuous - such as a caretaker washing a mop - with the help of Kraemer's mood music.

The diner's food may be greasy but the script is hard-boiled - "Fate is the exucse of people who make bad choices" - lending the film an air of noir, and the atmosphere is enhanced by excellent production design from Paris P Pickard. The ending may not be as clever as the writers hope but this is otherwise a taut and good looking showcase for Ikimi and his technical crew.