Cynthia (Stephanie Michaels), known as Cyn, sits bound on a chair, the victim of a kidnapping. Her two captors discuss what to do with her and what their boss wants to do with her, and one of them begins quizzing Cyn on whether she's a model... or an actress... or a stripper. Although initially looking scared, she suddenly taps a resource of confidence and the captors begin to look worried themselves...
Cyn started as part of a longer script, but eventually ended up as a short production for a Steven Spielberg competition. And it is short, five minutes in length altogether, but doesn't waste a second of its running time. It was the creation of writer and director Alex Ferrari whose previous Broken had also been not only brief - although not as quick as this - but also seemed to be part of a longer work.
As it is, what you have here is an action thriller pared down to its bare bones, with a tough heroine and easily outwitted bad guys, along with a mystery man who appears to be pulling the strings. How Cyn manages to get out of her predicament is the most entertaining part, and she deserves a meatier role. Actually, the narrative lasts about three minutes with an elaborate end credits sequence giving the film a fancy send-off in a James Bond style. Considering Cyn was made for less than a thousand dollars and was created in six days, it's undeniably impressive - it leaves you wanting more, though. Music by Mark Roumelis and Felipe Tichauer.
