What's yours is Mime

MEME TEME!!! You madlads pulled it off!! SO GOOD!! SO MUCH FUN!!

This was an excellent time! I love all the costuming and make-up, very fun. The twist ending was very exciting!

This really embraces and understands the genre well without just relying on visual elements like aspect ratios and colour grades (I don't hate those or films which used them. I'm just saying it shows knowledge and skill to convey the genre so well even without the most recognizable bits).

The tent does so much heavy lifting in selling the circus setting. So, good on the team for taking the time to set that up. Although I don't understand why they didn't film inside the tent, instead using a farm shed.

The ending is so funny and clever!
I think it would have felt a bit more cohesive, had the finger gun been established as a character trait early on.
Maybe have the investigator finish every conversation with this action.
A small change but I think it would make a huge difference.

In my own film, we knew the final reveal of the fireproof shoes was funny. But we knew it would be way funnier if one of characters introduced the idea early on in the film.

Anyway, I think this should win best use of painting/drawing/whatever.

And "Cuckles the Clown" is way too funny to hide for less than a second in the credits. That joke would have killed as a detective internal monologue.

A really clever film. Very well-written. The understated narration gives a nice modern take on noir tropes.

The dark and somewhat colourless beginning pays homage to the noir genre and creates contrast with the colour of the circus. "There's no colour here. Hasn't been for a long time."

The bookending of the portrait is great. It's set up really well, and then the film goes long enough that I forget about it and am absolutely blown away when we reach the witty ending.

Ok real review time! Loved this take on the noir genre! I was super impressed by the use of the painting here, and im guessing everything at the start was shot late on the Saturday night. A circus setting is definitely a difficult thing to pull off, but the tent ties it all together in such a charming way! I enjoyed seeing the actor from 'Stuck in Invercargill' return to lead this film, and I think the dry southern delivery really works in contrast with the fun colourful setting! The crowbar joke got such a good laugh at the heat! I think the only part where the energy started to dip was the banter with the fortune teller, just because its like they are both speaking in riddles, but its a really short sequence and immediately picks up after that with the finger gun! Such a huge step up from last year! Fantastic work teme!

What I liked:
Classic Meme Teme with their title pun. You, guys. Typical of you too that you have nice touches of humour such as the mime and clown in the bedroom. All those balloons. Excellent use of the portrait weaved into the story with a light supernatural element thrown in the mix. Clever Meme Teme. Performances are solid, especially from the mime who does a fantastic job throughout. Loved the way the gun was handled – perfect.

Take it or leave it:
Not a fan of a lot of the shaky cam, especially on the portrait, or the use of the Dutch angle on the building, which gave me a headache. You cross the line during one scene too – another headache - but maybe, along with white-balance, I didn’t teach you that either. God, that fedora with the white band – is he a detective or someone playing one? And this is the worst-looking circus ever, haha. From a genre point-of-view, you went with many of the tropes, most noticeably the voice-over, which works well despite being a little bland in delivery. I think this film would have benefited a lot from playing out at night, which I know is a huge challenge. It’s just so bright that it doesn’t really create any tension, and this is probably my biggest piece of feedback – there’s no freakin’ danger!

Final hot air:
I always have a special place in my heart for the Meme Teme, and this is another good film from them, done with their classic style. Samantha, you have officially become part of the “My Film’s Not Very Good” Club, yet you’re on a pretty strong shortlist streak. So proud!

Mime Time! Congrats on your shortlist spot!

This is absolutely the strongest contribution we've had from meme team so far! And I'm a bit sad it didn't get more love from the judges. I do get it though, while the setup and payoff are in my opinion very strong, and you had one of my favourite endings from the comp this year, the contents of this story sandwhich are pretty one beat. The guy talks to one person, *joke*, then another person, *joke*, then another, *joke*. A very witty skit, ultimately not enough for the judges to chew on.

Judges thoughts aside, I enjoyed it a lot! I absolutely LOVED the ballsiness of just setting up a family camping tent and going 'yep, that's the circus tent!'. The portrait element was excellently executed. There were some really slick lines that had the audience cackling, the energy of the crowd responding to this one was awesome.

THE BEST THING: A great concept that is delievered with another step up in the technical and production realm for this team, nice job.

THE NEXT THING: Give your lead more to do than tour around an area! Two years in a row now where it's been characters walking somewhere, interacting with something, and then moving on without much consequence. Take heart meme team! You have quietly become a chch staple that us regulars root for every year. We look forward to next years entry! And we promise to not turn up to the house uninvited and cause the computers to blue screen of death next time...