The Mob

on behalf of Sub-Par Cinema Society, we have decided you are our (friendly) rivals. After you took best school last year it is our soul goal to perform better than you this year. I cant wait to see what you have made this year. I hope you have brought your A game. May the best film win.

( I love both ur prior films and its cool to see you back this year. I hope you had a great weekend)

I loved how that intro line just grabbed us as the viewer! Very clear narration to drew us right in. The music thag you chose was a wonderful tension builder, and I appreciated that you used the resources around you - the sheep!

Loved it. The music was great as was the production. The twist with the sheep being the mob boss was also very fun. Some
Classic Dennistribe wackiness. Your acting also improved this year, both in your leading and supporting cast. In terms of story I think it was well told. It’s tricky to tell a good noir story in 5 minutes and I think you pulled it off very neatly. If I had any notes I’d say you could have some more fun with the types of shots and camera angles you are using, and well as playing around with lighting, especially in a genre like noir.
Overall very good.
Well done!

Yay go team!
Loved the very kiwi pun on "the mob"
Great location, and such a Canterbury Film!

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.

Black & White 4:3 is the Auteur's choice!
This is a really successful pastiche of classic Noir. Lengthy tripod shots, expressive music, deliciously hammy performances! It's all here!
The sheep was a great inclusion; exactly the kind of zaney idea that sets a film apart, executed with technical perfection.

I enjoyed the atmosphere in this film, a rural noir that honed in on deep shadows and dark secrets much in the veign of CHINATOWN only the shadowy figures have potentially more aligned with a Robert Eggers film than it seems.

A tidy edit and at times an intense vibe, portraying the feeling of helplessness extremely effectively. The performers did very well and the I thought the goons were a particularly menacing element, standing strong without overstepping into cliche.

I did personally find the ending a little bit rushed and cold, and it felt a bit unresolved given the scope of what had been presented in terms of discovery throughout.

A nitpick is that maybe aligned to the choice to go 4:3 it felt like your movement shots all had minor interlacing? Which was quite a distraction personally.

A good take on classic noir with a kiwi twist.

What I liked:
Cool location, the aspect ratio choice which added to the old-timely feel and I you were smart to make it a story about a girl looking for her father, which kept casting just about age-appropriate given the majority of your team were young folks. Good humour, and nice coverage gave you plenty of choices. I really enjoyed the tense reveal of the sheep and the line “Harm comes to those who do others harm”. Nice.

Take it or leave it:
You named your lead “The Detective”, dressed her like a classic detective and did the old pinboard thing. Why, oh, why?! Did she need to be a detective? She didn't look old enough! How did it add anything to her character? A simple daughter investigating the disappearance of her father does exactly the same job and can have the exact same traits of your classic detective without falling into those cliches. If you haven’t, check out the film BRICK – neo noir in a teenage/high school setting with everything you’d expect from the genre. Your sound was a little variable, especially at the start, with some of the farmer dialogue, which is something I heard you chat about after the screening. A work-on.

Final hot air:
Another good effort from Dennistribe, who take their National Best School Team 2025 and keep driving forward. Well done!

A detective goes out in search of a missing man and ends up in a baaad situation (couldn’t resist the pun!).

With an unconventional villain taking the spotlight you have brought a completely new twist to a classic genre! Setting this film noir tale on a farm rather than in amongst the city-slickers was a great choice, the editing was tight and the lighting, particularly in the barn, was gritty, moody and brought a real tense energy to the story! Oh my gosh, we LOVED the moment of talking about the mob, and seeing a mob of sheep - I cackled!
The grandiose reveal of the Boss was inspired! The swell of the music, the cloven hoofs stepping out from the shadows, “No one ever suspects the sheep.” Absolute cinema!

We love being able to give constructive feedback, and our one suggestion would be to look at what dialogue is vital to telling the story. Some lines of dialogue could potentially have been told more through actor’s facial expressions rather than needing to say it aloud, but that’s just a tiny element of an otherwise solid film!

A worthy followup to your Nationally Award-winning film! We can’t wait to see how far this goes!

The team intro is a lovely nod to last year's masterpiece.

I'm sorry to hear the writing process was difficult and time-consuming this year. Understandable. Noir seems like a tricky genre and I'm glad I didn't have to tackle it!

Setting the noir on a farm and having a sheep as the mob boss were strokes of genius. The line "No one ever suspects the sheep" is iconic! I love the subtle rotating shots to emphasise the lead's unease as she watches the sheep emerge. I didn't for a moment doubt the sheep's performance. You've blown out of the water the old adage of never work with animals or children!

It's not clear enough that the farmer is a translator. Maybe a line could have explained this.

There are some lovely moments between the detective and her dad, driven by both the performances and the camera framing.

I struggle to follow the story. The audio issues won't be helping, but maybe the plot needs to be simpler or hammered home a bit more.

The sheep poison is a striking set-up and it would be nice to see more of a pay-off by using the poison to resolve the story or create a twist (instead of introducing a gun right at the end). The ending with the gun was abrupt, but at least it creates some questions for the viewer.

The music is catchy, distinctive, and often very effective. I love when it swells then cuts off with percussion for dramatic effect. I also love when it becomes really quiet and subtle to build tension, but these understated orchestration sections would be even more effective if they were drawn out a lot longer, maybe with a gradual crescendo.

A shame about the interlacing that appears to have been introduced by the 4:3 project (or camera) settings.

I like it when 4:3 is tight and claustrophobic in its framing – which is a handy way to get the camera closer to the actors and pick up their dialogue better without needing a separate microphone. Some shots were close up like this, but I would have loved to see more of them.

Some scenes would benefit from cutting between more camera angles to drive the action. All that being said, there were some excellently framed shots and the contrast of black and white was used to great effect.

Hopefully that's helpful feedback. You're a very talented team so take what you will from my musings and only if it's useful for giving you more ideas to play with next year. Likewise I'm sure you'll find useful ideas and techniques in other teams' films and reviews. I can't wait to see what you make next!

A wonderful contribution from a team that has a weighty expectation placed on it's shoulders after last years best school in the country win! And what do you get saddled up with? a Noir tale that you have to tell our in the countryside! Wowee, that's not gonna be difficult at all!

You managed to pack enough in your leads performance, captivating twist and a strong ending to earn a shortlist spot, so well done!

Judges comments included good lighting in the barn scene, solid moments of direction, and a recognition that this is a young team with young people taking the charge and so finding ways to play to your strengths when you have a challenging genre is well respected.

And then there's the sheep! One with its entire body in tact this time! A best performance nom unfortunately veto'd by HQ....(just kidding, they'd probably have questions for my wellbeing if I advocated for it sadly)

The main drawback is the first half. It takes a while to pick up, and the scene setting is not quite clear enough for us to know where we are or what the stakes are before the plot starts moving. The performances are all pretty strong, your lead actress really stepping up to the plate to do the best detective work she could - but maybe she didn't need to be in a hat and coat to tell the story? Maybe she's just farmers daughter, and less of the secret agent vibes could have grounded this tale.

THE BEST THING: The sheep. A twist that is both the funniest and the most sinister thing in the film, and an ending with real tension in it.

THE NEXT THING: Keep at it! You know what you're doing and you're officially playing with the big boys. We look forward to next years entry with great interest!