+2
I watched this short twice, once from a filmmaking point of view and the other from an audience point of view. Also not reading any comments yet, to go in with a fresh mind.
I'll start with the filmmaking point of view.
Not a fan of how it opens, the transitions seem very quick with the fade ins and outs.
I had no connection problems, it played fine for me, which tells me there is some audio issues. ADR is very evident for me, when they spoke I could tell the audio was recorded in a sound booth somewhere, as it's not synched up PERFECTLY and sounds very out of place with the environment. The most obvious part is when the two "hippies" talk to Jethro at the beginning. This goes hand in hand with the foley work: footsteps, drawers opening, papers shuffling, etc. To me it all seemed artificial. If it was done on purpose, it's a tricky thing to pull off because it will just take the audience out of the experience. Just in my opinion, of course.
I like seeing the world through the lens of the camera, it immediately sets an "age" to the setting.
The camera work is good, I liked the zoom in on the Tree of Life words in the book.
I thought the black man's death scene could have gone better. He slowly falls down backwards and is very staged.
Not a fan of the lead, it's hard to portray a character with no dialogue, but he really seemed unnatural to me. I liked the billionaire Asian man, he came off as an experienced actor, or one that takes it seriously.
From my point of view, it looks like he's looking for some sort of inspiration. The tree of life is put on by the record company and it seems that the billionaire represents them in the hallucinating sequences. Does he find inspiration? Does the record company kill the inspiration he finds? These questions are left unanswered by Sarah, but a slight grin from the lead makes us lean towards yes, he found something.
I find it interesting that she used a Dutch Angle for what I thought was reality, which makes me question which reality was real.
For those who think Sarah edited this, read the credits. She wrote and directed it. I know she had a vision on what it would look like, but I give credit to the editor, Alex.
Overall, I can see this playing at some festivals, just make sure she researches the right ones. Otherwise it will be a waste of time and money. Know what type of films the festival plays and rewards.
Despite the short not being clear with whatever she had intended, she clearly had a vision. A short like this is meant to make people debate about what the message is. With my personal experience with schools telling people what type of films to make...f*ck em. They are, in my opinion, trying to make their success off the minds who put their time and money into a passion project. They want something that will appeal to all and throw their name behind it. At least in my experience.
Congrats Sarah and starting out with literally NOTHING and then having a finished film on your hands that people watch and talk about. The highest compliment I can give you is that you sparked discussion.
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."
Suspect's Reviews