Wild West Side Story

When a narrator recalls a story of an old duel, initiated by townies being served who shouldn't have been, events lead to a duel. This was a colourful lo-fi film with painted backdrops and easter eggs such as mannequins filling in for actors in a blink and you missed it nod, that did its best to cover the tropes of the western genre.

For mine I felt that there was some strong positive energy and confident performances, and a good understanding of genre. But I would have loved a bit more originality brought to the script. The wraparound nature did feel a little bit tacked on and would have loved it to have been presented with importance rather than a tickbox for the kiwi/pavlova elements.

Sound also a mixed bag, very up and down in the first half of the film but then quite good in the second half.

Story: 1.5/5
Technical: 2/5
Elements: 2/5
Overall: 2/5

Hornby Heroes always bring a really charming sense of humour to their films, and as they've grown older, watching this sense of humour develop has been really fun.

Lot of stuff to love here - the mannequins standing in for extras, the embracing of Pavlova genre, the genius ending where we reveal it's all a class presentation - love this.

My main notes this year beyond keep getting better in the technical department (you are), would be to consider tone. A lot of your film is quite comedic, which made it relatively jarring when one character is cradling another while they die, cursing the heavens. Tone is a massive thing 48Hours films struggle to nail, so focusing on that will do you well.

Challenge for next year: I reckon make some films outside the competition, become familiar with your equipment so that when you get into the fun of the weekend, you can get better video and audio.

Hornby Heroes seemed to have been around so long that I have no idea whether this is the original team or just the 2022 iteration.

I loved the "How are the kids?", "They could be better. They are slacking I've got to say." and then the "Are you playing go fish? With the townies?" exchange. I know your story WAS built on this bit of conflict but I think you could have really gone big on this. More of the card game that then led to the showdown More double-crosses etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is make it a bit more self-contained - but go big! Going outside meant you lost a little bit of control - we saw football fields in the background and the audio was a bit loose. A room and an interesting exterior wall might have been all you needed. The card game was such an interesting set-up that I just wanted more of it! More dialogue, conflict and "who do we actually trust" moments. We got the classic aspect ratio change but again we just needed more! And the silliness of the "go fish" issue was again, a perfect situation.

Sorry, this is a bit of a rambling review. I enjoyed your film and just see some opportunities for you to do more with it!

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