French title "Les Basses Oeuvres"
Billy Burine: A Gangster Comedy Short Film Shot in Montréal
The Story: Grit Meets Humor
In a gritty North American metropolis, these days, Billy Burine—small-time mob boss with a larger-than-life swagger—runs his criminal empire like a scrappy startup. Over a smoky table in a dimly lit Montréal bar, he’s grilling his three goons: the grizzled vet muttering about the old days, the dim-witted muscle botching excuses, and the eager yes-man nodding through swigs of cheap whiskey. They’re dissecting the biz—what’s crashing, what’s cashing—while Billy’s wife, a razor-sharp spitfire, pipes up from the bar counter, barking corrections like, “No, you bonehead, the drop was Tuesday, not Thursday!” Her zingers cut through the haze, keeping the facts straight and the laughs flowing in this underworld farce.
Billy’s crew runs on semi-annual targets and a rough playbook—think corporate hustle with a twist of brass knuckles and backroom deals. Between gigs, two henchmen wax absurdly philosophical—life, the grind, the latest news—all from their lawless perch, turning petty woes into gangster gospel. It’s a warped mirror of office life: high stakes, lowbrow banter, like The Sopranos crashing into The Office with a sly grin.
Filming Against the Clock in a Montréal Bar
As Director of Photography, Richard Duquette turned a real Montréal bar into a gangster’s den, dripping with moody menace and a playful edge. Time was the enemy—tight deadlines meant we had to shoot fast, improvising on the fly. Low-key lighting carved stark shadows across chipped tables, neon flickering like a Scorsese standoff, while a jukebox pulsed red in the back, syncing with Billy’s wife’s scene-stealing jabs. With seconds ticking, Richard rigged bounce boards to catch fleeting bar light when a softbox fritzed, and swapped a dolly for handheld moves when setup time ran dry—pure gut instinct keeping the shots alive. Films Solutions delivered big: securing the gritty location, rolling out an ARRI camera, and rallying a small, scrappy crew. Against the clock, Richard and the team transformed chaos into cinematic gold—menace, mischief, and all.
