Pop's Precious Pranks

I really dug the vibe of this one; all the performances really sold the tone! I felt like there was a cohesive directorial vision here.

While the visual language was a little muddled at times. It felt like moments were chosen to SET UP A GREAT SHOT... But I KNOW every shot COULD be a banger!

I loved this one, it's hilarious! The whiplash of switching to a completely different style, then right back again for the end was perfection. The pacing was excellent, and the acting was brilliant, especially from your lead actress!

And that final shot of the cop walking up..... so good....

This was a very well put together film, with a great premise and incredible acting!

I love the dark comedy and multiple twists of this film. The way it can flip from one emotion to another or even hold them both at once. Really well-made. Really entertaining.

This film really spoke to my experience of caring for an elderly relative. The worry and stress of it all. You took that and channeled it into pure comedic gold.

What a pleasant surprise to see Krysta on the screen. She was my introduction to 48Hours back in 2016. This time she moves from the directors chair to a compelling, emotional performance in front of the camera.

The complicated relationship between the daughter and her father at his current stage of life is so brilliantly scripted. Possibly one of my favourite uses of the miniature component yet. Halfway through I was thinking 'yep, I can see how this ends' (which turned out to be exactly how it did end), then you totally threw me for six until the last few moments. Love it!

I think this is classic 48hours in the best way. High effort, high production value, and just the right amount of jokes and twists to fill the run time in a really nice and mature way. The contrast in pranks from the opening to the middle section is actually so good! I really couldn't tell how dark it was going to get. It looks good, it sounds GREAT, and the actors involved really sell it with a good point of difference. Although its smaller than last years film, on a personal level I like this one more! Only crit would be the uniform at the end could be better (I think i got the same hat from looksharp), but I know from experience how hard it is to get. Nicely done Eleven Monkeys! P.S My dad really loved this one!

Why did no one tell me Scott could act? It never even feels like a funny crew cameo, he just genuinely suits the role and gives some great reactions throughout. And speaking of performances; oh my, the lead actress in the is amazing! This would've totally fallen flat if she didn't have the chops for THAT scene but she totally killed it and the whole things works because of it. Love this crew and I hope to see it again at finals.

This film was super strong - really nice visuals, and a solid story that has that classic 48 hour twist. The loving but somewhat difficult relationship between father and daughter was beautifully done - it felt nuanced and real. My absolute favorite thing about this film was just how well it achieved the switch up in tone and story. The visual elements alone did a great job at this, but what really sold it was the absolutely superb acting! I'm hoping to see this one get a nomination for best acting.

What got my attention:

Great acting from all three of the characters. Dad, is so irritating and one-note (until the end), daughter so wrought with different emotions and Brad, a legend in a small, but important role - his checking himself for sniggering a real highlight. Comic timing was excellent and I loved how this film just stuck to a very simple premise of unintended consequences for poorly motivated actions. Loved the camerawork, editing was well-timed and the sound design tied it nicely together. I really get off on tonal shifts too – just when you think this is going to be a madcap “War of The Roses” prank fest we get instead a Fargo-esque case of good people in over their heads. You instantly go to what you'd do in that situation.

Take it or Leave it:
Is this a holiday movie? Not sure if April Fools Day really, really counts. April 1st is a religious holiday in some parts but not as usually seen here. I imagine this might have cost you with the judges, especially when it came down to the Final 12; not that adherence to genre is consistently enforced in this comp though! Story isn’t complicated but it didn’t need to be – this is a slice of life, played out in a short period of time where shit goes wrong. Perhaps, some things are a little too convenient - a lot had to fall into place for tricky Dad's plan to work. I didn’t vibe with it at the screening but on rewatch I really, really enjoy it and will 100% use it at as an example for my Media Production students. Great to see Zeke Frater’s name pop up in the credits too – LHS represent! And, I think the Look Sharp police hat was exactly the way to go – why would Dad go for anything else? It’s a cheap prank after all which just makes the reveal worse for his suffering daughter.

Final thoughts:
I’m flabbergasted that this film hasn’t made the CHCH final given the quality of it in comparison to some that have. It's also something that usually would! I think it’s one of my three favourite films from this year, instantly rewatchable and delightfully evil at it’s core. Love it when the antagonist wins – not all films need a hero. Great job 11 Monkeys and damn, not making the final must make you feel pranked, like it’s April 1st.

What a masterful execution of creating a dreadful moment of anticipation. Everything is progressing as expected with her setting up the water balloon... and then the close up of the still-spilled cup at the base of the stairs comes in. And the audience is left to stew in the drawn-out slow motion (which I think has great shot at winning "best use of slo mo"), knowing what is surely coming next.
It's excellent. When so many films in this comp barely squash their huge ideas into the 5 minutes and others seem to drag on and on. Having a moment linger so long shows a great deal of control and understanding. I was very impressed.

But then that moment was blown out of the water by the ending. The long unbroken take of the police officer walking towards camera, slowly revealing more of his facial features. It played so well in the heat as I could hear people around me figure it out at different moments.

Should have made the finals.

It’s my team’s film so I’m gonna put my own shameless review. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sting a little when we didn’t get to the finals this year, but I did lowkey expect it! Plus I always enjoy 48 hours and love the spirit of it - it’s not always about getting to the finals!

As much as I loved making this, I downplayed this film to a degree where I’ve told friends how much this film falls under the stock-standard 48 hours and how we didn’t get creative enough to stand out from everyone else.

In addition, I think the use of the “Holiday” genre really could be one of the reasons why we didn’t progress like Stu mentioned - it’s not a holiday but we rolled the dice and risked it!

I think story-wise, it’s pretty solid, but I think we failed to communicate how Pop’s, the master prankster, always has a contingency plan when someone else tries to prank him which the audience may have interpreted it differently. The “wash your makeup off” line was a victim of cutting an entire shot that gave its reasoning to be said plus it was never the line in the first place, but the team decided that her crying made her makeup messy lol.

Onto the good things: I was very happy with how the characters were performed, especially when one of them isn’t an actor nor a yeller. It stung more when one of the actors didn’t get at least a nomination compared to getting to the finals due to a lot of the praise from the reviewers above (not even sure if it’s possible to be nominated for that despite not making the finals).

Cinematography was acceptable despite going out of focus multiple times. Edit was water-tight, but maybe too tight. In the end, I did grow to love this film! The Monkey House will return next year!

Also wanted to chime in as I was also involved in the team. I'll be remiss by not acknowledging the amazing and positive reviews our film has received. We're deeply grateful that you have enjoyed it just as well as we enjoyed making it.

I also do appreciate some who were cheering for our film to be one of the finalists this year. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. In saying that, by no means am I disappointed in the result. That's because there are a vast amount of talented and deserving filmmakers across Ōtautahi that have produced some amazing 48Hours entries this year. The team and I will definitely be cheering on all the finalists at the city finals!

As for the film. I'll refrain from echoing much of what has already been said so I'll be brief. Krysta, Andrew and Scott all nailed their respective roles. They all poured their hearts out in helping portray their characters' dynamic with one another. The story was all round solid for the runtime of the film, as it wasn't overtly complicated. Wish we could've worked on the sound design a little more but we did have to cut a few mistimed SFX due to the limited time we had to be able to fix them.

Overall, definitely proud of the team, and we'll for certain come back with a bigger and stronger entry.

Wow! You guys already have a lot of this figured out! Love that. You’re a very selfless team and generous with your love for this comp and this community, and it shows here - can’t ask for more than that really.

You’ve got fans! Including us! And there are some great reviews above singing your praises, perhaps a little tooooo generously- so maybe we won't feel too bad coming in a little harder and twisting the knife a little further hahahaha. But please know it’s out of love and a desire to really see you smash it out of the park in the future. So, with that being said...

This was a really great idea! Or at least we thought it was - the judges, as you’ve already suspected, weren’t so hot on the April Fools angle. Genre really was a sticking point for many judges this year, so while the cinematography, sound design, and editing were all of high calibre, the subversion of the genre and choice of story just wasn’t enough to keep judges on board, unfortunately.

Before knowing how genre-obsessed the judges would be this year, our main concern was the overall pace. For a film about a guy obsessed with pranks and gags, there weren’t really a lot of them, and so the story is just too slow.

The accidental “murder” of Pop feels pretty unjustified - three pranks is all it took for the daughter to lose her cool and set up one herself? Really? Cups, glad-wrap, small pizza? Surely there’s more! And that’s probably the biggest gripe we had with it. We would have loved to see a montage of the daughter just absolutely SUFFERING joke after gag after prank until she can’t take it anymore. Then Pop can dance around (to a great song), fall over, *die* and have his body chopped up into pieces or whatever haha

But then the final reveal — oh man. The comments above suggesting that the long, uncut slow-mo of Pop walking up and removing his hat being a *good editing choice* are just wronggggg. We're sorryyyy! But 23 seconds to hit that punchline?! The one we see coming the moment Scott says “go wash your makeup”? Guys, c’mon!! Ahahaha.

THE BEST THING: Technically, this team is in our top tier - no doubt about that. The performances were great too.

THE NEXT THING: At this point of reviewing I suppose our feedback is going to look quite similar for shortlisted and finalists teams - story, pacing and genre! But it seems like you’ve already learned everything you need to for next year. We can’t wait to see what you put together, and we’ll visit again to scare the shit outta Casey again ahaha