In the genre of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries (Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Mighty Wind, etc) comes Armen Keprelian’s “Closing Escrow.” With the real estate market weighing heavily on everyone’s minds as of late (foreclosures left and right, all eyes on interest rates) “Escrow” offers some comic relief. This sillier view of realty is told from the perspective of home buyers and sellers and the realtors themselves.

Though you’ll probably not recognize any of the actors, they all give incredibly believable performances in this near-farce, fake documentary. Limited to three couples and their real estate agents and a handful of property locations, this indie never ceases to entertain. It’s shot in clean crisp HD and looked beautiful on my sixteen by nine digi-projector. “Escrow” is well edited, directed, scripted/improvised and acted. Both my girlfriend and I quite enjoyed it. Since a friend of mine was involved in the project, I suppose I can’t give an unbiased grade. So I simply won’t grade it. But in all honestly, I enjoyed it!

It’s a small release, but check it out if it comes to your town and tell me what you think:
Premiering August 24th in the following theaters: Magnolia Pictures
Los Angeles, CA: Fairfax Cinemas
New York, NY: Quad Cinemas
San Francisco, CA: Opera Plaza Cinemas
Denver, CO: Starz Filmcenter
Tempe, AZ: Valley Art 1 Theatre

Available on DVD September 4th at Amazon.com

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