King of Herrings: A Louisiana Film

New Orleans native Eddie Jemison, the guy whose name you might not recognize, but who my husband immediately identified as the tech wiz from the Ocean's Eleven series of films, walked onstage with co-director Sean Richardson a few weeks ago at the Manship Theatre to introduce their film, King of Herrings.

It was easy to see how Jemison, a slightly-built guy with an unassuming, almost apologetic stage presence, could be easily cast as a nerdy, tech-savvy brainiac for Steven Soderbergh's Oceans' Eleven franchise. So it was disconcerting—and impressive—to watch him transform himself into reprehensible bully, misogynistic potty-mouth, and all-around loser, Ditch, the film's main character.

On the film's website, Jemison, who wrote the script, introduces the film this way: "Kids watch ants. They’re mesmerizing. If you settle in and take the time. A fly on the screen door. The trees from upside down. No piece of the world is too small to fascinate." In this way, Jemison holds his magnifying glass up to a group of four friends from New Orleans who apparently spend their days gambling, badmouthing their wives, and holding court at a local diner. They are firmly entrenched, these four, in their bad habits and their petty complaints till a contested gambling debt causes a rift, upending their lives.

The film was made an a shoestring budget. With no money for props, permits, special effects, or other potentially distracting devices, the characters and the script really had to stand on their own. And they did. The acting was nuanced and the script was unapologetic, gritty, and satisfyingly clever.

Word to the wise: these guys are hard to stomach. Save for Leon, the one with the gentlest soul, these four men are, at best, inconsiderate, and at worst, just plain cruel. They also don't mind littering the soundscape with the "C-word" (a feature of the script that Jemison admitted during the Q&A that he thought would come off as comedic, but that he later wished he'd toned-down). However, the characters are complex enough and the script strong enough that the characters' lack of likeability is not a turn-off. And in the end, they get their due; and the unfortunate ladies in their lives manage to extricate themselves from the herrings' poisonous influence.

Read more about the film at and find out about future screenings at kingofherrings.com.