A SERIES OF SMALL THINGS

A Phil Donlon Film
“Sometimes when you look for the truth you find yourself instead”
Running Time: 21 minutes
16 mm Color

Synopsis
In 1994, 14-year-old Adam Mulligan helped Kyle, his best friend and older brother, secretly bury a Korean youth. The gruesome memory haunts Adam, and now the 24-year-old artist lives in a private hell, disconnected from life. After a series of serendipitous events, a mysterious homeless man on a pier leads Adam to Jenny, the beautiful sister of youth he helped bury.

Intrigued by her, Adam befriends Jenny and enters into an emotional chess match with her to determine the consequences his ugly deed has had on Jenny and her family. At the same time, Jenny intuitively believes that Adam knows more than he’s letting on, and she delicately tries to find out Adam’s dark secret. Adam is soon faced with the dilemma of having to decide between love and redemption.

Back Story
A Series of Small Things was born out of the painful experience of Producer Sun Kim’s wife, whose 8-year-old brother was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Brazil. As in most traditional Korean families, this eldest son was more than just a beloved family member, he was being groomed to become a doctor and proudly carry on the family name. When he died, his parents emotionally shut down, and in a
way, they died as well.

“When I met my wife,” Kim says, “she was still dealing with her family’s tragedy. And in many ways, she’s still struggling to fill her brother’s shoes -- but she feels like she’s chasing a ghost.” As Kim watched his wife’s parents wrestle with their guilt and pain, and his wife drive herself to succeed in her brother’s place, Kim wrote this story about Adam Mulligan, hoping that the story could somehow be a
source of renewed hope in their lives.

“The story is about a young man faced with a chance to make courageous and moral decision in the midst of complicated and difficult situation” Kim says. “In the end, Adams loses quite a bit in order to do what is right.”

While exploring and portraying the emotional dynamics of Korean-American family, the story also confronts socio-political issues of our time.

“Whether you’re talking about politicians who can’t make important decisions without taking poles every five minutes, or the religious leaders who are no longer the standard bearer of truth, or lawyers who routinely bend ethics for monetary gain- it all stems from lack our courage to do what is right beyond our myopic and narcissistic pursuits,” Kim says.

About the Production

A Series of Small Things, directed by Phil Donlon, is a short film shot over six days in Chicago. Because of Donlon’s experience with independent and short films, he brought a dynamic, creative vision to the already well-crafted script by Larry Wilson. To complete the film, Donlon organized a gifted crew from Los Angeles, Chicago, and even Canada that went well beyond Producer Sun Kim’s hopes and imagination. “This is truly a testimony to the reputation and talents of the writer, director, cinematographer, and the editors whose past works has brought excitement and trust from everyone involved from craft service to casting directors,” Kim says.

Kim was impressed with Donlon’s ability to work under severe budgetary constraints while trying fulfill the feature-like scope of the film. “Although Phil had to wear many hats during the production -- he served as co-producer, director, and lead actor -- he never lost his
creative edge as an artist,” Kim says.

Donlon faced the near insurmountable challenge of shooting a 20-minute short film that demanded six major location changes, while building three distinctive characters whose relationships all had to come together in the end. “I think Phil’s vision and Steve Ordower’s editing work produced an amazing 20-minute experience that takes the audience into human drama hard to find in many short films,” Kim says.

“Looking back, it was a daunting challenge both creatively and logistically,” Donlon admits. “The only reason the film came out as well as it did is because of the close working relationships I have with Steve Ordower and my director of photography, Jim Andre. We’ve worked on several past projects, and we respect each other a lot.”

Andre, who also worked with Donlon on the award-winning film Wrestled, experimented with color and light to underscore each character’s complex inner life. “We purposely added darker shadow around the main character, Adam, who struggles with inner demons throughout the film. On the other hand, we cast brighter color on Jenny, who engages Adam in an emotional chess match,” Donlon says.

Donlon, who once headed up the Gilead Theatre Company in Chicago, was well-prepared for the challenge of working with all the actors involved, including movie-veteran Doug Jones. Because of Donlon’s rapport and respect with the other actors, he was able to draw out complicated and layered performances from them.

Phil Donlon on Production

The one thing I was hugely impressed with was the team comradely — all the actors who were flown in from Los Angeles ended up sleeping in Steve’s house. Doug Jones slept on a mattress on the floor. In his last film, Hellboy, he had his own floor of a hotel in Prague. So it flattered me that everyone was willing to put aside egos and put the project first. Even our behind-the-scenes documentary director, Mark, ended up sleeping on a chair, and he paid his own way from Toronto to be on set.

When I arrived in Chicago I knew I had to connect with the Korean community but did not know how. Through a casual conversation with a friend, I was put in touch with a Korean woman, who basically cast the film with extras, and her husband played a role in the film! These little things meant so much.

Actors and crew stayed late, worked overtime, and were willing to do what it took to get what we wanted on film. Wes, who headed our art department, and who had just gotten off The Weatherman with Nick Cage, had some time on his hands before going back to Los Angeles. He gave up his week and worked for free, and brought on his staff to do the same. One day we were short on grips, and the writer, who slept on a couch next to Doug, was lugging lights off the truck. Everyone was willing to help make this successful and it deeply touched my heart.

We worked fast and very hard, we shot the film in four days with two days of studio-insert shots. There was no down time. One day we had 18 set-ups. It was set-up, break down, set up, breakdown, we moved very, very quickly. We moved so quick that I forgot to eat for an entire 14 hours. I personally got little sleep, maybe a few hours every day. I definitely had my hands full acting, directing, and producing.

A funny anecdote:

Doug Jones, who played the Homeless Man, always got in full wardrobe before he came to set. He had a very nice car rented for the production and drove himself to the set. He stops in a very hip and trendy part of Chicago and goes into Starbucks to get coffee.

He said on his way out people gave him the most dumfounded looks, trying to piece together a Homeless Man holding a latte, getting into a rental car. Anytime he was at craft services, real homeless people in the area usually thought that the city of Chicago was holding some kind of food drive for the homeless in the area. He did a convincing job.