“Today is tomorrow. Tomorrow is yesterday.”
— the woman at the bridge

We were first exposed to the work of Michigan-based actor Mason Heidger courtesy of his leading role as a lovable “mad scientist” in the sci-fi oriented rom-com, Making Time. In that film, Heidger impressed with his thespian abilities in rattling off — and convincingly upselling — that film’s scientific expositional dialogue concerned with theoretical physics and quantum mechanics as it related to time travel. So, when I discovered his newest project — and that the project also served as his writing and directing debut in film — I knew I wanted to review it for B&S About Movies.

“It’s just a little side project I did because I was bored. It’s nothing spectacular,” Heidger modestly explained.

“Get ‘bored’ more often,” was my eventual reply.

As Tomorrow Is Yesterday streamed, it became obvious that, across his wide array of shorts and indie features — as well as a dayplayer role as Officer Rucka in the Detroit-shot scenes of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, along with roles in writer-director Harley Wallen’s Michigan-produced Agramon’s Gate and Eternal Code — Heidger wasn’t puffing his ego with any “I am an actor!” foolishness, as most actors oft do, on sets: instead, he was paying attention.

Also starring Christy Edwards (of Wallen’s A Bennett Song Holiday and Eternal Code) and David Budziszewski (a skilled sound recordist doubling in his first acting role), Mason Heidger has crafted an award-winning short on a zero-budget that works wonders across all of its disciplines. The seasonal, wooded cinematography by Cory James Taylor (crewed on Transformers: The Last Knight, as well as Eminem music videos) is clean and crisp. While I lacked a film synopsis or press kit, the soundscapes expertly created by Budziszewksi and musician Aaron J. Morton (Doctor Who: The Soldier Stories fan series; You Tube channel) placed my streaming-watch in the immediate mind set that, while the film opens with a man (Heidger) walking his dog through a peaceful wood, he’s walking into an otherworldly, Twilight Zone moment, one that that will forever change his life — in an Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” stream of consciousness kind-of-way.

My only qualm with the film: Why didn’t you give the dog a screen credit, Mason?

In July of this year, Michigan’s Royal Starr Film Festival selected Mason’s film writing and directing debut for screening. He’s since made Tomorrow Is Yesterday available — for free — on You Tube. You can learn more about the non-profit efforts in film by the Royal Starr Arts Institute on Facebook. You can also learn more about Mason Heidger’s filmmaking journeys on Facebook.

Heidger’s currently in post-production on the feature film debut of fellow Michigan filmmaker Michael B. Chait’s Wolf Hound: a film concerned with the Nazi’s KG 200 program. In addition, Mason recently completed work on Detroiter Harley Wallen’s eleventh feature film, Ash and Bone, currently on the festival circuit with a streaming release, this year. That film delves into the world of Mitten State-bred urban legends . . . the one I know, and freaks me out, is Hell’s Bridge . . . so I wonder if Mason Heidger was, himself, inspired by that creepy bridge legend in crafting his tale.

Fans of Harley Wallen’s films can catch up, with our reviews of Abstruse (starring the always welcomed Tom Sizemore) and Tale of Tails (with Kaiti Wallen of Enteral Code).

Be sure to follow our “Short Films” link, below, to populate our reviews of that genre. Show your support for short filmmakers: for today’s short filmmaker is tomorrow’s feature film Oscar winner.

Disclaimer: We were provided a screener copy of this film from the writer-director upon our request — after discovering it on social media. That has no bearing on our review.

About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook. He also writes film reviews for B&S About Movies and publishes on Medium.