Loved this film!. The beauty of watching two characters who have great chemistry and an effortless way around the hilarious dialogue was so fun to watch.
The technical side of the film-making showed a maturity and restraint that is rare in this competition. And a major plus... we could hear the dialogue so clearly - which immediately puts this above so many films which seem to forget that sound is essential.
A great contained film which is undoubtedly one of the standouts in my opinion!

The two things I love most about GLFS is their extremely detail-oriented art direction and their ability to absolutely commit to weird ideas. Just look at their 2024 film, Loose End, which took a bizarre concept and unsettling pace right to third place at the Nationals.

This year’s film opens up with some of the best art direction I’ve seen so far in the comp. It’s hard to tell if the conceit or location came first for this segment as they're blended in such perfect harmony. The wall paper, the props, the costuming, the music, the colour grade and the VO - all perfection. I would have loved to have a bit more sound design in these part however. I think he scenes could have been elevated somewhat by the droning sounds of a treadmill, a vacuum cleaning in the distance and maybe something to make those flash transitions feel a bit crunchier.

The introduction of “real world” by framing the television, and using the scientist’s movement to pan around to the liminal set was absolutely inspired and peak GLFS. You guys are masters at thoughtful framing and camera work that drives the story forward. Last year you surprised us with the cat burglar in the gallery and that moment (you know what I’m talking about) is that moment for me. I love this so much because there is nowhere to hide in the edit. You committed to the shot, knew it would work and let the action do the heavy lifting.

In this room the art direction is once again superb. Not even sure what I’m looking at exactly - a 16mm projector? Whatever it is, it captures that retro-futuristic aesthetic so well. Still bamboozled that we both made films about brain-scanning helmets this year. Ours didn’t require quite as many cables, however, so I can only assume our tech is more advanced.

It’s hard not to think of Eternal Sunshine as we move into her world. The chaotic reversed music (which incidentally also reminds me of the Mike TeeVee sequences from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), the projection in front of our hero. It’s a great entry into this other life.

Personally, I would have liked an alternative to the *pop* sound design for her avatar embodiment, but that may only be because, after working at What Now for years it has child-like implications.

In the art studio we ONCE AGAIN see this art direction at full strength. Wonderful little reel-to-reel deck there, a full space popping with colour and detail and idiosyncrasies.

The mirror shot is a wonderful little touch to orientate the audience and make sure we’re all on the same page. I also love that her head scarf mirrors the helmet. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but if it was - bravo.

We exit the woman’s world and are back in liminal reality. After watching this a couple of times I recognise now that the system seems to overdrive when the avatar pilot makes a grave error that may meddle with the client’s life. This is really clever and makes total sense. Didn’t catch it on my first watch though!

The room divider being what I assume was just a portable projector screen made me laugh. Such a nice little beat.

More bizarre antiquated technology for him to punch in numbers! No idea what this contraption is. Some kind of accountancy device? Where are you getting this stuff?? Or is this just regular modern tech in Taupo? I was mildly confused about how the hero managed to reinsert himself into this world after requesting it be done for him. Maybe it’s something I missed, but a small irk either way.

The tape/painting/rip moment REALLY made me laugh. A classic GLFS beat. The music stopping, the tear, the framing through the… frame. Really great.

The dark turn and the eventual double twist was excellent. I would have loved to have heard a piece of sound design that further reinforced the man was taking over the role of child birth. I thought the end was mildly disorientating as we were used to seeing him as the avatar pilot within her body, so to end on it actually being him made me second guess myself. I have decided to land on it being the audience seeing what he is feeling. The track across made me question whether he was in the same room on my first viewing. However, the ending really works and the potential open-to-interpretation nature of it (whether intended or not) works in its favour.

Another standout film from one of this competition’s most consistent teams. I expect to see this one at the Grand Finals.

Awesome, nice to see the whanau involved :)

It's always interesting to watch an animated short for this competition; this one was particularly interesting in that it was an animation about doing some animation. The art style was quite nice, with a good balance of detail and simplicity. Perhaps some of the movements could've been sharper, and the fonts did stand out quite a bit, but generally it was pretty good. There was some nice parallax in one of the pan shots too. Sound work was effective, but I think more could be done with the effects to flesh out the atmosphere more. Found footage as a genre was a bit of a stretch, but maybe that's nitpicking a bit much.

Very well made short film , good story line and the cinematography is banging👏👏👏

...me too Cedric,domestic chores don't magically vanish overnight...all marvelous ideas seem to fly off into infinity never to be seen again. Loved the one man show. Great acting. Great wifey voice...well done folks.

One of the hardest things to nail in this competition is theme. And you have done it brilliantly, and made it look easy. The spirit of creation is here and incorporating a young boys pure creativity and joy is a statement in itself.
We loved the art style and the character design.
The film doesn't try and expand itself into something too big or unsatisfying, but stays very neat in a simple and effective delivery/flow.

We love this and appreciate the kind of thing it stands for against the current AI hellscape online.

Well now this is certainly an interesting alternate universe film with a lot to say about the pitfalls of A.I. and a deep underlying message that brute force automation will never beat the heart of (literally) organic material.

Absolutely fantastically drawn and smoothly animated, a believable world inhabited by anthropomorphic vegetables is quickly built that at first has us thinking Kubrick but then a more whimsical youngster shows the signs that there is still hope to break free from the machine, Neo-style.

Given homework to produce a short film works as the catalyst for something with a lot more heart than a prompt produced film can ever accomplish. Really warming to see the original score was beautifully composed as well.

The colours absolutely popped off screen and the film was pleasing from start to finish, with personal moments that really made the film unique and raw in the best possible way at the same time.

For me I do wonder if the film would have played more favourably with the judges with a slightly more conventional narrative. I'm not suggesting dialogue but essentially the film is centered around our protagonist being an outlier. Which is great. And then the task of making a short film drives the plot forward.

But was the dramatic question strong enough to make us concerned for our likeable characters at any point? It seemed like danger was lurking in the background and perhaps bringing that threat forward would have elevated the film? Just my 2c.

A lovely film, great job The Immortal Think Tank!

Apparently acorns have the perfect appendage to protect them from hypnotic AI computers.

A very cute and genuine film. The animated characters are lovely. So are the voices. Colour creates a striking contrast between the dreary opening and the cheery ending. Films about AI seem to be in vogue this year, but this treatment is delightfully heartfelt and wholesome.

Making a film about making a film, and having an animated film inside an animated film, are big gambles. They only pay off because the credits delightfully reveal that animated movie #2 was made by eight-year-old Moss. This hammers home the film's message that art that is real is better and more alive than soulless AI outputs. A child's creativity is inspiring and contagious.

The let-down in this film is the volume of the music. It's too loud, drowning out the cute voices and sound effects, and forcing me to turn the volume of my TV down much lower than I should need to. Perhaps sound mix was the last-minute casualty after a sleepless weekend of loving, painstaking animation. But audio can make or break a film. This film would benefit from some attention to the levels monitor and making sure the decibels of each track adhere to the relevant 48Hours guidance.

Thank you for being the first to review my own film! It meant a lot to have a flurry of reviews from around the country straight after the heat. In return, you are my first review of a non-Christchurch 48Hours film. I lived in Tauranga as an adolescent so it seems fitting.