chestertravis

eggy hoas

Well well well. The great and mythical SteelPotato, a man without whom generations of filmmakers would struggle to interpret their own, and others', works. 

I absolutely love that you've once again utilised young talent. Brilliant choices as the main actors, great performances and a fun dynamic. I agree with Buddy that it definitely has a stranger thing vibe, but also any number of 80s classics - Stand By Me coming to mind in particular. 

There is some absolutely outstanding (I'm assuming) ADR on display here. The dialogue is crystal clear and the lipsync is absolutely frame-perfect. Love the return of the jacket and the completely over-the-top and unnecessary Glaswegian accent absolutely and continually cracked me up.
The colour grading was another high point - beautiful, however could have been assisted by a little more key lighting perhaps to lift and lighten those shadows. I also would have loved to have experienced a little more cohesiveness and through-line with the music. Finding good in and out points so the track can seamlessly drift into the next scene, lingering while wrapping up those emotional beats could have helped glue some things together.

Barnstormer of a story, so retro, and the lo-fi costuming at the end was fantastic and came as a welcome surprise. 

You are a legend, Dave. Never change. 

Grounded

An absolutely and astoundingly beautiful animation. The colours, the textures, the fluid movement. Whoever is at the helm here is top of their game and should be commended on all fronts visually. How you pulled this off in 48 hours is beyond me.

The story, however (intentional or accidental), is almost a one-to-one replication of the New Zealand children’s book Flit The Flying Flop.

Loose End

In Swedish and other Nordic and European countries, the expression “red thread” refers to the core idea or theme of something - a “throughline” that makes it all make sense.

This is on display both literally and metaphorically in Great Lake Film Society's beautifully conceived, dystopian, film

It's a quite complex and confusing film in the sense that audiences members could come to multiple conclusions about what story is being told here. My take (and it may not have been the intention of the film makers) was a man trapped within a corporate entity unable to express his true self. When he finds himself following the strands of other people's private lives, he seems the world through a different lens and "disentangles" himself from society's requirements of him.

It has hints of Eternal Sunshine boiled down into a five minute period and for the most part does this extremely effectively. My only gripe would be that I'd love to have fully understood the ramifications of breaking away from one's string and what it would ultimately mean to follow another's. However, I believe the strings never existed and this was just a man peering into other timelines of his own future through the experiences of others.

- Sonder – n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

Gorgeous film that was only limited by the constraits of its running time.

Added kudos for beautiful use of POV shots, inventive camera angles and techniques.

Congrats on the finals!

Burnt

There's something so charming about a film centred around a man's unbridled quest for something as insubstantial as toast.

I loved the office snark (we've all been there) with the stand out line for me being "another performance issue, greg?" as it is, upon closer inspection, tri-sided wordplay (the prince of all wordplay!). I also loved the ending, so pathetic and inconsequential it really wrapped up Greg's miserable life into a bow.

Some great sound in there such as the foreboding tones at the beginning. I would have loved to hear some really rich and threatening sound design from the toaster itself. An idea might have been to embolden, deepen the tone and reverb on each of those handle pushes, really filling the sonic space and using audio to get inside Greg's head and feel his cyclopic vision.

On another note, not thrilled to see the use of what I assume is generative AI in the poster. While being a little lazy, it also sets up expectations for the look and feel of the film in a way that can never truly be delivered on. If this was designed by a human, then please forgive me, as the poster does look amazing!

Side note - could four-slice toaster technically win best use of all four "elements"?

I MetaMan™

Hi DennisChief! We're very flattered by the interest you’ve taken in our film. The fact that you find it so polished and well-rounded, as to suggest it was pre-planned, is a huge compliment and we all thank you very much.

The fact of the matter is, it was not. We have quite an experienced and a very lean team. We are all fairly adept at breaking story quickly and have a good work flow for how we shoot.

But even that being said, we didn’t finish our script until 3.30am and shot from dawn until after midnight on the Saturday.

If you are not onboard with our subversion of the genre that is totally fine! I welcome that critique, and we knew the risk we were taking as we were making it. But I can assure you that were we going to pre-write and preplan a film it would have been a little more impressive and sophisticated than this one!

Love your work, by the way, and looking forward to all the magic you bring to us in future!

Birdy Nom Nom

Absolutely sensational film. Excellent pacing, fantastic cast. Everyone playing to their strengths. Loved the idea and the puppet character was spot on!

MILK!

In an era of consistently increasing dairy prices, this team takes on the everyday struggles of the average kiwi milk-lover.

Few have dared to skewer such heavy political issues with so much aplomb. Neato Productions have proved once-and-for-all that there is comedy to be found in even the grimmest of topics.

All jokes aside, this was a very very well made film. Incredible pacing and an absolute powerhouse performance by the lead. Understated and perfectly dismissive at all the right times. Part of it felt very Tim and Eric influenced and, while I sadly couldn’t attend this heat, I’m sure it tore the roof down.

Creamy.

Sweets

This film is a mini masterpiece. I felt the world viscerally and almost physically at times. As though I could reach out and touch the grotesque creatures on screen.

At times during the film I entirely forgot I was watching a 48 hour entry such was the incredible artistry at work in Sweets. I have no idea how it was achieved in that time frame but I can't commend Tim highly enough.

Was it style over substance? Possibly a little. But with films like this I'm not really looking narrative satisfaction as much as I am a mood and feeling, which this delivers in spades.

Congratulations, Tim! As others have said, I wouldn't be surprised if this took ouit the competition.

The Little German Boy and the Cave

My partner is German and this was a spot-on depiction.

I Could Fly

Wow what an absolute unit of a film. Something I haven't seen written about in the reviews and something you're not credited enough for is this film being a historical jukebox of musical theatre styles all with your own original score. It's mental! Somehow managing to merge The Sound Of Music, Little Shop Of Horrors (?) West Side Story to... Oliver (?) to Sweeney Todd?!

I have absolutely no idea how you managed to achieve this AND make a coherent engaging film at the same time. Hats off. You deserved a place in the grand finals.

Highlights for me were:

The internal boot knocking sliding into the rhythm of the next musical number.

"She isn't one to lack punctuality" is not a line I thought I'd ever hear in a song.

Random boot opening the first time made me laugh out loud in the heats, the finals and even this time I watched it.

"So I can leave and never see you again?" "Absolutely" "I kind of love that". So subtle but such a cracking bit of throwaway dialogue.

Match cut was obviously next level and on par only to Toot Toot's use of the element this year - but honestly I prefer this use as it gives it a beautifully poetic ending, she shows up, the situation combusts and then it's lights out.

Incredible job from an incredible team and I feel so grateful to have met you all. Really inpiring and can't wait to work together in the future!

Party Disrupted

Full disclosure - I work for the school that produced this film. And having that insider knowledge makes me all the more impressed by what was produced. None of the people involved in Party Disrupted has made a film before and I found it astonishing how bang on the performances, comedy and pacing was in this piece.

There are not a lot of models of how to produce deaf content for a hearing audience. But by producing a film that was largely show-don't-tell, excellent physicality with strong story-telling, this film sails along with plenty of twists, stakes and surprises.

What especially impressed me about this film was the sophisticated use of subplots within the film. To tell an overarching story of a chaotic party, but also weave in a failed seduction, theft and a lock-out all within 5 minutes is no small feat.

Finally I want to give a big thanks to Joel, Rach and the 48 Hours folks for captioning the heat and providing an interpreter. It was a great night and everyone from the team is buzzing.

Singularity

Ambitious to its core. What an incredible achievement and peak cinema. Can see this as the regional winner.

Wouldn't expect anything less from a person whose name is 120% of the word flix.

The True Story of Billy the Horse

This was an absolute highlight of the entire competition for me so far. Beauty of a film.

It goes without saying that the costume design was absolutely inspired and took it to a level of whimsy that really sold the whole premise.

To me it felt very reminiscent of late 80s, early 90s public access kids television mixed with a bit of Muppets energy and some Gondry magic (that costume would not have looked out of place on the show Kidding).

Adored the smash cut to the grave with the rose, the miniature saloon was a work of art and really admire you (presumably) fossicking through the shelves of a used book store for that old horse book over the weekend.

Only improvement I could think of would have been to tighten up the dialogue in the beginning. Felt like the back and forth between the two main characters could have been a bit snappier to build momentum.

Very much except to see this at the finals.

The Hat Trick

As I think we can all attest, it's not easy to make a film in 48 hours. What's even "NOT easier" is making a high concept film.

What I love about GLFS is their absolute balls-to-the-wall gall to take what could be a simple idea, chuck it in a blender, say "to hell with conventional structure!" and make it out the other side with something so beautifully pitched.

Last year saw GLFS going deep and tackling big ideas and concepts and leaving a lot of open ended questions. This year we were given all the answers, but drip-fed them in a deftly crafted slow-release of twists and turns. I am not surprised to hear of the awkward clapping at intervals throughout the film. It tickles me to know your film lived off the screen and became a piece of performance art, involving the audience, on the night.

As it's clear to me this film will at the very least make (if not win) the regional finals, so I won't go into too many details as not to spoil the plot. But future audiences should keep one eagle eye trained on the many many adventure-film-references. They're an absolute joy.

And just when you think it's over (again), there comes that home-run of an ending. But it all began with that opening shot. That bloody masterstroke.

You fooled us all. I watched it three times.

I take my hat off to you.

Stage Four Law

Rabid Aunty Jean at it again looking to take out every award under the sun.

Gorgeous cinematography as one would expect from this team, pristine sound and a rich, dreamy grade.

Powerhouse performance from Hamish in a more dramatic role than we're used to seeing him, from a batshit script and idea played dead straight.

I laughed, I cried, I felt a little bit hungry.

They're a force to be reckoned with. But we all knew that already.

Nature's Calling

I love the films of Inclusive Performance Academy. They never fail to deliver true, honest-to-god, authentic humour.

Their stories are tight, their pacing is beautiful and this year is no exception.

I could genuinely watch an entire feature or series of the lead (American, who is apparently not American) character just listing off his frustrations with the world. Born for the screen.

I was particularly impressed with Jasper's editing and voice work this year. Had me hooked from the first second.

Toot Toot's Biggest Fantasy Movie

This film does what so many try but ultimately fail to do. It is both entertaining AND educational.

I particularly liked the PSA about the number 15 bus. Now that I know its ticket price and frequency, I'll be sure to visit New Brighton in the near future to scatter my own wife's ashes.