chestertravis

The Mob

Well well well. The genre debate is going head to head this year with CHCH arch nemeses Dennistribe and An Evening With!

Superb film with an outstanding performance by a non-human who, I’m sure, may receive an acting nom.

Fantastic use of location and New Zealand (Neo-Zealand?) scenery at what I’m assuming might be your home. Nice to see a classic noir film not bound by the mean city streets.

Some great performances, excellent pacing and a wonderful, attention-grabbing opener with crystal clear sound.

I also clocked the super wide shot of your central figure crossing the field as maybe paying tribute to last years’ film.

I would have loved to have seen a jauntier angle here and there and possibly a bit more of experimentation with music to break up those story beats. Those typical jazz tracks are so mesmerising they can become a bit of a wash when laid through multiple scenes.

Your team keeps getting better and better and I look forward to what you produce each and every year.

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!

Smoke and Mirrors

I have watched this film 8 times now. I've shown my wife and my writing partner and it is my favourite film of the heat. It's an absolute travesty it didn't make it onto the shortlist.

It's charming, self-aware with deeply commited performances from all involved. I'm sure this conceit must have been done before in 48, but I haven't seen it and I absolutely love it!

What makes this film so special is the ever-present sensation of actually being there on set. I feel somehow as if I'm a fly on the wall at a table read for a musical prior to any musicians arriving. This makes the whole thing feel strangely voyeristic, like I'm somewhere I'm not supposed to be. But what starts off uncomfortable, quickly leans so hard into its format it's impossible not to root for everyone involved. By the time the 4th-wall-breaking dialogue comes along, we know we're *allowed* to laugh at this and everyone is in on the joke.

Beginning with the slightly problematic "magical black person" trope (whose cadence in this immediately reminded me of the Cucumber Man video!) we're transported to a world where everyone sings what they want to say with seemingly no concerns for melodic or rhyming structure. Soon after we're presented the outstanding delivery of "the gays, Jim!" which, in three short lines, sums up a whole generation of well-meaning people doing their best to learn and grow along with the landscape around them. Immediately after we're hit with the "woke, not awake" line to hamnmer home this point. I thought this was a lovely little interchange as the punchlines were never targeting the subject.

The husband's pained expression during this interchange really made me laugh. I felt this kind of anguish percolating within him every time he knew he was about to sing.

From a storytelling standpoint, its well-worn landscape - but it doesn't seem to matter! The beauty is in the form it took and the enthusiastic participation of all involved.

Side note: I was a little confused by the piece-to-cam at the end as I assumed it was meant to suggest her looking in the mirror. But the mirror was already broken? Maybe it's mystery not meant to be solved!

Overall a brilliant achievment I personally feel was robbed of a place at the finals. This film may not have been for everyone but I totally and completely get it. And loved it!

The Host Unknown

Far and away the most stylish school film of the heats so far. Beautifully shot, lovely pacing and a sophisticated edit. Phenomenal art direction, use of the drawing element, creative angles and lighting choices.

Excellent performances. Love the mumble-core-esque delivery which gave so much authenticity.

Extra commendation for playing your age!

My only nitpick would be that I'd have loved to have seen a bit more intensity in piano keys moment. Maybe a jauntier angle, deeper SFX, possibly ramping up the motion slighting to make it "hit harder" so to speak.

Overall an extremely well constructed film which absolutely plays to your strengths. I'm really looking forward with what you guys come up with in the future!

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"?

Elijah's Ladder

It’s not often a film will suck the air out of a room at heat. The type of silence brought on by a deep sense of community, respect and engagement. It’s even less often that this silence was preempted by laughter just seconds earlier.

In this way Elijah’s Ladder reminded me of Hannah Gadby’s Nanette. We were all taken along for a ride before having the rug pulled from underneath us. And I imagine this was very much the point. For a moment we were all back at high school, hearing titters about the boy who paints his nails.

To be able to turn this playground mirror, within 5 short minutes, to deeply personal moments of self-expression, anxiety and trauma was not only powerful but also shows a deft directorial hand in Mark. It’s not the structure we expect from a short film, so to have the confidence to tell a story in a linear manner, aided by both metaphorical and literal stairs was exceptional.

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.

Road 2 Revenge

First off - banger of a team intro. I’d love a tutorial on how you got those amazing CRT graphics sometime.

Secondly, I was beside myself that I couldn’t attend the Wednesday heat to smell this film. Therefore, my review will be covering merely two of the three senses offered by this cinematic delight.

Opening up with a glorious haze of halation I can’t help but imagine a chip commercial on Days of our Lives. It’s a dreamy world we’re in and surely nothing could destroy the tranquility of this moment for the audience. Larvae Girl has found her one and only and that’s all I need.

But this moment of bliss is soon interrupted by one of the most lo-fi gunshot sounds still on the internet (was it recorded in an elevator shaft?) and delivered at a level Nolan himself would be proud of. Tony is dead and the film begins in earnest. Larvae Girl pleads to an omnipotent presence (a canny foreshadowing perhaps?), questioning “why does this keep happening to me?” - a hilarious line and pitch-perfect performance from Rata.

What follows is an absolutely beautiful cut montage (guided by a man inexplicably from Boston?) that serves as a kind of retrospective trailer, catching us up on what we may have missed in previous films. It serves this film particularly well to give an emotional heartbeat to an otherwise absolutely ridiculous story. The montage ends with another murder and day-glo blood splatter. The film begins in earnest.

I absolutely love how balls-to-the-wall is in everything that follows. It’s the most maximalist approach to film making I’ve seen in this competition. Never too many crash zooms. The fact that you made a stuffed mannequin body to dump off the fine arts’ air bridge, only to show it for *checks notes* 1 second is so unbelievably commendable.

More crash zooms! Blood spatter on the lens - either achieved digitally or with some perspex held in front - is just another fleeting example of the wonderful attention to detail here.

The action is interrupted by a memory sequence of Tony offering up a delicious muffin. This is clearly less about driving the plot forward and more of a nod to the audience, that had Tony not died from a gunshot, cholesterol would have gotten him eventually. Larvae Girl smiles and we know all is well. Side note - these scenes really remind me of the Chubbs dream sequences in Happy Gilmore.

As Larvae Girl removes the antagonist’s eye, we return once more to Tony who exclaims he “loves a popped corn” - In my humble opinion this was a missed opportunity to say “popped cornea" - but too late now.

“My booooones, you’re breaking my boons” will almost certainly win best line delivery.

Tony likes cheese. Good lord, what did Larvae Girl ever see in this feeble glutton?

Herms Heroes, like so many teams this year decide to preempt their rumour with “I’ve heard a rumour” just incase the audience need some handholding. I’ll allow it. It’s followed by a spectacular whip pan/match cut which is my favourite moment in an already spectacular edit (one that will surely take out the editing award).

Larvae Girl confronts Judgey McJudge Face, who is also of some unspecified North American descent, and has me questioning where in fact this world is set. Has there been a plague of US criminals upon Christchurch? Or has she been in The States all this time? It’s a delicious mystery. Tony would relish its deliciousness.

One final fight, some inspired scratch animation, and Larvae Girl is dead. Never a team to be overly sentimental, we learn this is fact by an on-screen caption. She’s gone to heaven, meeting the very omnipotent presence she pleaded with earlier. Much like Tony’s doughnut, Larva’s girl’s story has come full circle.

I have nothing more to add. It’s a masterwork. Can’t wait to see, and finally smell, this on the big screen.

Murdered by a Bad Review

In what is undoubtedly Everything Sticks’ finest work yet, Murdered by a Bad Review had me struggling to contain my laughter long before the first frame was even shown.

Anyone who was following the screening room politics/drama around certain Christchurch films last year will already have had some indication of what they were in for. And oh boy it did not disappoint.

What I particularly loved about this film is rather than taking the easy route and being mean-spirited, it somehow managed to be both self-deprecating and playfully spiteful. It was an embodiment of how it *feels* to receive a negative review on something you’ve poured your heart and soul into. Wonderful use of genre that would have fit equally well into Revenge.

I also appreciate its willingness to double down on 48 hours lore, lean into the meta and take a giant swing. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it.

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.

A Product of My Imagination

Hi, Cinema Conissure! As we said last year, we do not preprepare - we stay up until 3 or 4am on that Friday scrapping ideas and trying to find something that sticks.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but genre-subversion is one of the judging criteria at 48 hours. There have been tens of thousands of films made over the years and it pays to keep things fresh and find (hopefully) unique and interesting ways to play with such incredibly familiar tropes.  Especially when it comes to something as visually style-coded as Classic Noir. But stylistic elements are not all that makes a genre.

We chose to film a neo-noir film, in colour, and aimed to use its core themes, such as moral ambiguity, fatalism, destructive desire, the femme fatale and had the internal monologue play an intrinsic role to the story. We threw in some classic noir shots for good measure (and fun!) but they are not the sum of our genre adhesion.

Finally, we make comedies, and will continue to make comedies! Sometimes that won't gel with the mood you're expecting from a particular genre - and that's totally ok! We would just love to not have to defend ourselves over pre-planning. 

Hope that clears some things up!

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.

Hacked Off

I am a super-fan of this team. They consistently deliver offbeat, batshit films that neatly fit into the world of Tim and Eric.

What this team does so well, year after year, is lean into a style of absurdist (often surreal) comedy that allows their large ensemble cast’s unique line delivery, expressions and comic timing to shape the films’ mood and pacing. Proving time and time again that tokenism has no place at Inclusive Performance Academy.

One might submit that being a micro-production team (consisting of a couple and their son), seemingly tasked with fairly distributing one-liners amongst 10 or so actors, could cause some headaches when trying to tell a tight story. If this is the case, then it’s always invisible in the result. The story barrels forward, with each line either carefully advancing the plot, or breaking for comic relief. Nothing ever feels wasted.

Lastly, it’s impressive to take such a serious topic, hammer it into our heads with cartoonish exposition, and somehow make that premise the joke while not undermining its importance. A rare skill.

truER detective

Now I'm someone who deeply believes in the possibility of spontaneous human combustion. I have been ridiculed for at least two decades for this belief but I'm still standing firm. I subscribe to the theory that cigarette embers may have fallen on a sleeping person, slowly ignited the layer of fat underneath their skin, brought their body to a critical temperature level and BOOM!

Because of these beliefs, this film resonates with me on a fact-based level. It also makes me concerned for the amount of smoke in the detectives' room. Is this cigarette smoke or did someone leave a toaster on? There is A LOT of smoke.

I'm not typically a fan of the mockumentary talking head, but somehow this film doesn't really feel that way. I'm not sure how it feels. My take on it is that it's actually two guys in a pub philosophising about something they've read in the paper. Their own back-seat psuedo-detective personalities place them in this world within their own minds, desperately trying to illustrate their theories as they become less and less likely. It's as if someone took an authentic, pre-existing conversation and produced a film around it, recontextulising it ALA Aardman's Creature Comforts or The Ricky Gervais Show. Whether or not this is intentional, I feel like it really works and would have paid off so well to see them in a pedestrian environment at the end.

The flashback/cutaway/musings work so well. They feel rooted in late 90s pop culture - you wouldn't steal a car/crimewatch - and those bullet-time shots are an all-timer of a decision in my book. Absolutely nuts to include them just for the fun of it.

YFC's questionably sponsored product placement was a wonderful and completely unnecessary addition that I'm here for.

The performances were excellent. Downplayed and authentic, I don't know if it was fully improvised, or they took liberties with the script and riffed on it, or they're just that good. Either way they worked brilliantly.

The mixed media approach with loads of different techniques and stop motion animation was super effective. From a production standpoint I could have possibly done with a little more coherency from the shooting style in the detective scenes. Locked off/shaky handheld/zooms etc all mixed together pulled me out of that space stylistically. But just a touch. I also would have loved for that blind shutter gobo to be a tad defocussed and for the smoke to catch some of that light. But I did appreciate how it was a cool blue light to suggest the moon which so many people fail to think about!

A great film that will almost certainly make at run at the regional finals.

Side note - it really made me laugh that the "fireproof" shoes were made from vegan leather, a material commonly produced with petroleum-based plastics.

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.