Mon Amour

Arigato

Including your handyman in your will (and them showing up in their high vis!!!) is such a funny gag. I'm glad that he got his artwork.

Mon Amour unfolds at a nice pace, steadily revealing the key characters and plot details. Suddenly, everyone is assembled for the will reading. Nicely executed! It must have taken quite some writing and rehearsal to pull it all off. Well done for roping in that many actors and successfully directing them all.

We suddenly hear muffled piano when we enter the house. It suddenly gets louder when the lounge door is opened, and louder again when we enter the lounge. This is a really nice touch.

We witness the witty spats of a family of brats. There are some great jokes, puns, and flauntings of wealth and ingratitude.

I find myself wondering, since Jayden gets a 20% share in Theodore Windsor's prized yacht, who gets the other 80%? I can't help but briefly notice the cinematographer's reflection in the window of a kitchen cupboard.

One-shot is a tricky genre, but gives a pleasing result as we weave in and out of the interactions of lots of different characters. It reminds me of live theatre I saw at Riccarton House where the audience could move between the rooms at will to take in different parallel scenes – but of course this is quicker and more controlled.

Great marrying of house, script, and characters in this film!

Nice name for the film, and nice idea to have some shock factor upon the reveal of the "painting" – though the sketch felt maybe too ludicrous. I wonder if the shock factor could have been heightened by having a real painting that was nevertheless incriminating in some way, or just really terrible.

Throughout the film, conversations about the painting got lost in the busy dialogue. It would have been nice to see more purposeful foreshadowing of the painting so that we the audience were on the edge of our seats to see it. It would also have been nice for the relationship between Katerina Jones and Theodore Windsor to be built up over the course of the film, rather than revealed suddenly in a line of dialogue immediately before the painting was revealed. Perhaps then we could have inferred more about whether Katerina was Theodore's true amour, whether in death he did something deliberately to hurt her, and why.

I enjoyed this film and the eclectic nature of the one-take genre. Well done!

Really enjoyed the opening to this one – following the different characters around the space was a great way to introduce us to them and visually interesting. One shot is a tricky beast and with such a large cast it was really impressive how seamlessly this flowed. I would’ve enjoyed seeing even more of this, with maybe some more time here spent hinting at the relationships between characters and Theodore Windsor. On our watch the footage seemed a little stuttery especially when panning – potentially you may have had an issue with the exporting framerate or shutter speed too low.
I also really enjoyed the attention to detail in this film. Loved the music coming from a piano in the space itself - really nice having it grow in volume as we reach the room where it’s being played and where everything comes to a head with the will reading. Costuming and set dressing were also great and fit the story nicely, and “whore” “dervs?” was a standout line that gave us a good chuckle!

Team Abyssinian return with their strongest film to date! A really solid attempt at a tricky genre. The characters were well thought out, the structure and pacing between the rooms was good and the payoff of the silly painting was a lot of fun. "I wanted the one in Nice" was my favourite line, and there were a good collection of witty moments that gave each character a chance to shine.

There were a few key moments where the action is happening out of frame due to camera positioning (eg. The conversation with the girl about school/school break is happening while the camera is pointed at the leads back). One shot is a tough technical thing to carry the whole way through and unfortunately in a collection of really strong one shots this year, those moments stood out as the sort of thing that we would have suggested needs another take. Once the camera settles in place for the will reading, the energy and momentum of going from place to place unfortunately just sort of fades away, and the final joke is fun but it wasn't enough to really feel like we got a satisfying payoff.

THE BEST THING: A well orchestrated film with a consistent tone and unique and interesting characters.

THE NEXT THING: Perhaps a bit more drama beyond the characters not being fond of each other would have been the next way to elevate this story, and keep the momentum going? Maybe the guy isn't dead and he rocks up to his will reading? Maybe the painting is actually stunning and someone tries to grab it and run? You guys have a good knack for interesting characters and thoughtful use of genre, so we very much look forward to seeing next years entry as you continue to work on your craft! Well done!