Rosalie Liddle Crawford

Sacrifarce

Every year I can't wait to see what Great Lake Film Society are going to make next for 48Hours, and this year they delivered all the 'great' once again.

The screen writing, acting, special effects, sound, music, cinematography, production design - I want to effuse madly about all this, but am afraid of giving away the story. It's just all so well executed.

As the opening credits came up on screen, the audience applause was spontaneous ...before the film had even got underway ....and then was followed with constant laughter throughout the film, laughing at the hilarious antics of the actors. This film was an audience favourite. Story is always king with this team, and they didn't sacrifice the story at all to achieve the required elements and genre. It was really just perfect.

And it has all the required elements of transcendent strangeness and randomness while still taking itself seriously that you hope to get with a 48Hour film. So, in summary it's a completely satisfying watch and I expect them to take out a bunch of awards! (I'm competing against them - if I wasn't I'd say that I'd expect them to take the top BOP award :) but I gotta be loyal to my own team lol)

WATCH THIS FILM! It's supremely satisfying to see skilled filmmakers at their craft.

The Hat Trick

Entirely satisfying and entertaining. Once again the Great Lakes team are treating us like intelligent beings, pulling us in with a nifty tip of the hat at the cat and mouse trope which they don't just exemplify but appear to redefine with their own clever twists.
The game of wits was so well done I had to watch it through a second time. The first time I was "wow what did I just see?!" Completely smitten from the opening scene I found the play between the two lead characters quite mesmerising as she toyed with the narrator while also eluding her pursuer. It was fun, very cool, comedic, suspenseful, with strategic maneuvering to stay one step ahead.
It had me at "ok here we go" from the narrator telling the story against the chilled-out vibraphone type chords.
It was hilarious experiencing the audience in the theatre start to burst into applause each time the credits rolled, only to drop them into a further development of the story. The final applause showed how much the film was appreciated
The narrative is built on near-captures, close calls, and the threat of discovery before shifting to the garage scene with the introduction of more wonderful characters and slicing in the suggestion of sub-plots in the background thanks to the narrator exposing characters's inner thoughts which gives the story further depth.
And as always with Great Lakes, the neat twist at the end to round off a completely delightful experience and leave you remembering and thinking about the film still, days later.
An extra note about this film is how it's again an immensely impressive result from a team who open up the opportunity for others to come and dive in with them on this mad weekend. It's a risk involving newbies and mentoring them while also attempting to make a film in 48 hours. Hats off to Great Lakes Film Society for being so inclusive!

A Couple' a Wetties

This is by far my favourite film for 2022. I absolutely had no idea what was going on - which of course is something I loved about it - and I couldn't work out who or what was the swap. Did a person swap with a seagull? Was that a cat in the lap (with incredible smile) that turned into a human? I have no idea hahaha. But wow the quirkiness and randomness - I just fell in love with this film and watched it many times over, can't wait to see it again.
I did love how it was in three parts that seemed unrelated or randomly related to each other through the actors - the opening scene and beach scene, followed by the actors appearing to be on stage or being interviewed, followed by the gatekeeper scene. I totally found this film very satisfying, entertaining and mentally stimulating because of all the questions forming in my mind. Superb crazy actors, humour and bizarreness. Loved the beach scene so much with that crazy running, the surfie dude and the bird. Thank you so much for making this film. Please make more.