“The Truck Driver” was presented in the “Dear MKE” shorts program at the Milwaukee Film Festival on October 9, 2014. I will be reviewing each short – most under five minutes in length – and gauging whether they are worthy of expansion into a longer-form short or feature.
The best parts of the Dear MKE program were the smaller character studies, and it began with The Truck Driver which profiles artist-father-citizen Reginald Baylor as he makes art (for a living!) in the city he loves. While many of the shorts tried to communicate how unique and wonderful Milwaukee is, director Matt Mixon told that similar tale through the achievements of Baylor, whose American dream is presumably attainable only within this town’s limits. This young filmmaker is extremely talented and has a solid eye for cinematics, so it was disappointing to see that he had produced the lackluster Right Ingredients for the same program. If he can avoid the trappings of the commercial production crowd, I think he could tell a great story someday.
