Puppet and Prejudice

Killing Karma Studios are going to make a 48Hours Grand final sooner rather than later, mark my words. From making possibly the greatest school team in the history of the comp (WE SCREAM, and yes that includes Prime Rib and Calvin Sang - these kids can cook) to back to back deserved Wellington finals, this is an extremely talented team. And Hugo Montgomery might be the best young actor doing the rounds in New Zealand today.

Now I'm not going to fully put on my old man hat and do the A.F.M blast because this film was a hell of a lot of fun with an audience, full of heart and a terrific lead performance by the aformentioned Hugo.

Editing is great. There's not a nary frame shot that isn't tight and technically its slick although sound a little bit raw at times. Though that fit well with the documentary approach.

So, onto the film itself. Puppet with Human Love is outlawed but forbidden fruit always ends up being the most appealing doesn't it? The team made the protagonist likable before presenting their doomed hubris in a remarkable modern way with social jargon out the screen and having the audience in stitches at both screenings I was lucky enough to see this film at.

The problem for me is the form. Talking Heads and mockumentaries have been a bugbear for me in this competition for over 20 years and we've possibly come a bit full circle after the well was essentially dry as teams and viewers grew tired of them.

You see the second you have people talking to the camera, then using the footage away from the interview my brain gets triggered as this sort of film has been done hundreds of times before in the comp. Never this technically well, and possibly never as well acted. So personally it was a hard hurdle to overcome.

Nevertheless I loved the emotion you were able to create in this whirlwind alternate reality. I think you made a great film and in many ways it worked as a twisted homage to NZ legends Jason Gunn and Thingee (though I had to work hard to not think about the Kevin Clash controversies...gulp) and am excited to see what you come up with next.