MICROSCOPIC COG

Logline

Joe, a man who always gets his own way by whatever means he can gamble his home in an all or nothing high-stakes poker game.

Synopsis

Joe is leaning against the wall, smoking, and reading his newspaper. He is not interested in the news and quickly turns to the back pages, specifically the horses and their form. Joe is a risk taker, a gambler, a money lender, and debt collector for hire who never takes no for an answer.

Being part of a large family, Joe with his siblings and cousins do whatever they have to do to put food on the table. Eddie Joe’s younger brother will also do his bit to contribute to the family. Today he is collecting debt. Walking down a dark alley Eddie is confronted by three men. Eddie never walks away from a fight and gives as good as he gets but Eddie is overwhelmed and beaten to the ground and repeatedly kicked. Finding Eddie in the ally Joe makes a promise.

“I will get our money back and make them pay for what they have done to you. They don’t know me.”   

Joe discovers they play poker regularly and figures this will be their weakness by making them believe that they control the game, fate, luck or even at the hand of God and that Joe is an easy pushover.

The next day Joe, who has still been anonymous to the three men, joins the poker game. After losing three hands in a row Joe starts his play. “Come on lads, I thought this was a man’s game” Joe places the deeds for his home in the pot.

The leader of the Gang, Chambers, places his hand on Joe’s holding it tightly making the knuckles whiten, he engages his eyes directly on Joe’s. The silence of the room is broken by the occasional crackle of the fire.

Chambers coldly asks, “What the fuck are you doing?”

Background

Joe was Rob Perrett’s paternal grandfather, and the project has grown from stories handed down through the family alongside extensive historical and archival research into Joe, his brothers and the world in which they lived.

The script for Microscopic Cog is currently being rewritten to incorporate the latest research, bringing additional characters and previously unknown details into the story. As the project has developed, Rob has also begun exploring new dramatic approaches, with the aim of creating a more distinctive and original film and not just another crime drama.

Joe - played by Steve Dixon

The poker-game test scene shot in 2025 now serves as a visual and performance reference while the story continues to evolve.