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Title: Liquor Bank (2025) Director: Marcellus Cox Writer: Marcellus Cox Studio: Indie Rights Movies IMDb Plot: A young man relapses, missing his one year sobriety anniversary party at his local AA support group. Joe Says: Liquor Bank is a perfect accomplishment in the short film arena. The result is a rich and powerful short that showcases the strength of reaching out.

Filmmaker Marcellus Cox knows how to provide hope in a world full of despair. That no matter how bleak the outlook may be, all that is needed is a little guidance and perhaps a guardian angel.

Cox’s 2023 debut Mickey Hardaway was a hard-driven drama that reflected on a series of choices stemming from disappointment, frustration, and abuse. Cox leans on similar themes with his new dramatic short, Liquor Bank. Here, Eddie has just hit his one year anniversary of sobriety and celebrates with his old friends Jack and Bud. For Eddie, being a drunk is what defines his tiny existence. 

Cox shows the brutal acceptance of it all. Actor Antwone Barnes wallows in that hopelessness, particularly as he contemplates ending his life. Yet, there is available hope. His sponsor, Baker, is a slab of beef of a man with a soft voice and kind eyes. Baker (Sean Alexander James) can just as easily hit you or hug you – and he does both with knowledge and compassion. Liquor Bank shows there is an all-too easy escape; the temptation of ignorance is indeed bliss. Fortunately, Baker is too strong to give in to Eddie’s defeatism. Cox’s script contrasts that avoidance with the difficulty of simply listening. The result is a rich and powerful short that showcases the strength of reaching out. 

Liquor Bank also spotlights Cox’s evolution as a filmmaker. Whereas Mickey Hardaway was a heavy exercise in black-and-white, Liquor Bank stands in glorious color. The grimey yellows and off-whites and smeared neutrals perfectly blend in with the hard realism of Eddie’s squalor. The sound design must also be applauded as the quiet tapping of a knife echoes louder than the banging of a door. Marcellus Cox has elevated his visual game to counter the sharpness of his writing. 

Liquor Bank is a perfect accomplishment in the short film arena. The story is simple, poignant, and true. And like all good short films, it ends much too soon.