Tonic is a film that is reminiscent of the 70’s late night cinema. Sebastian Poe (Billy Blair), a hopeless, soused pianist who looks like a living withdrawal symptom and is obviously 10 years older than he is, is getting kicked in the shins after yet another bar performance cancellation forces him to default on some serious debts.

Terry (Jason Coviello), a crooked officer, demands Poe's money right away, but if he can't get it, the poor musician has another alternative. He must go to a certain address and assassinate whomever he encounters. He must do so without prior experience with violence or the use of any weapon.

Derek Presley, the writer-director, constructed the scenario by imagining what he would do in a similar position. Without a readymade movie hero narrative to save the day, how would an ordinary person like him commit a professional hit if forced.One hopes that Presley has a better life than Poe, who looks after his cancer-stricken sister (Lori Petty) while stealing her meds, which are, of course, procured illegally by Terry. Poe isn't someone you'd want to run into on the street, but you can sense his anxiousness.

Poe always manages to find a way to make things worse for himself, betting everything on dead ends while wasting everyone's grace for him. It would be more admirable if he wouldn’t continuously place his trust into those who are untrustworthy.

Adding to the flare of the film is the location, which in this case is Deep Ellum, a historic artists' enclave in Dallas. It’s very different from what one knows of Dallas it has no big sky scrapers or highways.

 Its seated in the suburbs with streets where nightclubs and bars coexist with run-down houses. It’s very reminiscent of cities in Europe. It helps set the tone for the mood of the film with shadows, and lightning bugs. The scenery helps viewers get in the mood for the melancholy that takes place in Tonic.

Tonic takes a turn to the left when Poe breaks off his quest to visit his sister and then sets out again. The visit doesn’t seem to go along with the mode of the film coming at time when the viewer is invested in Poe’s dilemma.

The sound at times is a bit unbalanced also which is a shame because this is a good film. It is very apparent when Blair and Petty are speaking over a TV news broadcast, making it difficult to comprehend any of the three voices.

On the upside Poe delivers a monologue that makes you value this performance. It occurs during a debate with an escort over whether or not humanity makes the earth a dreadful place. Poe's atypical eruption is less striking than the dark and subtle joke that seems to resolve the matter at the end.

The aforementioned are just a few minor flaws in an overall enjoyable film. The irony could be deliberate; in that case, Presley would be even more acute than he currently is. He's definitely smart enough to come up with an ending that doesn't sound like a thousand other movies, but rather fits the tone he's established. The writer-director gives us a delightful movie, aided by performances from an ensemble that is uniformly gamey, not too conceited, and evidently eager to show off their talents to a filmmaker who deserves it.

Tonic is currently making its round in the festival circuit and looking for distribution.