Born That Way
2009 · 10m · USA
Directed by Tony McNeal
Genres: crime, drama, thriller
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
An ex-convict named Jake Green is on an armored car heist when he encounters his estranged daughter, and that encounter shapes the direction of her own future — a crime film structured around the inheritance of criminal identity.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
McNeal's compression of the crime-dynasty narrative into a single encounter demonstrates structural confidence — the film refuses the backstory that a lesser filmmaker would have front-loaded, and Kevin Gage's presence anchors the genre register.
"A MUST WATCH!" — the description literally yells at me. Ex-con, daughter, armored car heist, Kevin Gage from Heat. It's a calling-card crime short trying to be a feature pitch in under ten minutes. Predictable in every fiber.
Tony McNeal compressing a father-daughter crime-lineage narrative into under ten minutes by treating the heist encounter itself as the entire arc. Kevin Gage (Waingro in Heat) anchors it — modest but lean.