In ‘The Don’, filmmaker Mathis Sneed delivers a neatly shot, comedically off-kilter short that’s as eccentric as it is enigmatic. Violet Martin plays the titular Don – not quite Don Corleone, not quite your neighborhood mobster, but a spectral presence cloaked entirely in shadows, calling the shots with silent authority. We never see her face, only feel the gravity of her mythos ripple through the frame.
Crafted for the Huntsville 72-hour film race, this comedy/drama leans heavy into its parody roots while never letting go of its visual appeal. The cinematography is crisp, composed, and unusually refined for a film born of such tight constraints. The editing is sleek and there’s a rhythm that feels intentional and strangely elegant.
The narratives opens with a man begging The Don to protect his family. Two other petitioners follow, each more bizarre than the last, turning the short into something that dances between sketch comedy and noir send-up. The tone is both edgy and theatrical, straddling a strange but delightful line between menace and slapstick.
There’s a distinct Godfather-esque flavor running through the veins of this film, but Sneed injects it with weird energy – like Coppola filtered through Adult Swim. It’s brief, but memorable.
The Don herself remains a mystery – forever shrouded, impossible to read, yet central to it all. This skit-sized short doesn’t just parody the genre, it plays with its soul, pokes holes in the leather trench coat, and offers something unusually charming in its place.
