The Last Train to Pound Town

"Action!" and we're off with a sultry bang as probably the largest team in this year's competition take a go big or home attitude to a difficult genre, with a very cleverly wrapped around story focused on female empowerment and artistic vision.

Also one of the year's absolutely slickest films and I can imagine many teams looking on with envy that B and even C cameras featured in the fly on the wall behind the scenes recording are still really good quality The edit is smooth, the sound design absolutely tremendous and the display visuals actually make it believable we are watching through a lens.

Lighting is also top notch and the team does a fantastic job of using a classy retro train location provide both intimacy and cinematic style to the proceedings.

There are also some loving homages for genre fans with [REC], FROM DUSK TIL DAWN, BOOGIE NIGHTS and SINNERS all stuck in the melting pot for good measure.

The film itself is effectively about a porno crew dealing with a diva lead actor with supposed erectile issues, with most of the crew just wanting to get paid whilst the director is genuinely out to make their masterpiece. Less dick more female beauty would be the order of the day if it was up to her, to really make her 1940s artistic vision come to life. Its a really strong performance by Sarah Penny in terms of just how focused they are.

The despondent tired crew also do a fantastic job as a collective showcasing that a job is a job, and getting the footage of the ham fisted dialogue and boarding of the pound town is all they really care about. Its subtle but realistic and believable which is harder to pull off than most people realise, and credit to excellent direction by Annabelle.

Where I personally didn't 100% vibe with the film were a couple of film making choices that I predict wider audiences may resonate with more than I did. For me the ending did seem a bit predictable (not the true ending. that shit was gold) but at the same time a little bit shoehorned in. The films it paid homage to in that regard are amazing but it did come across a little bit as done before.

Blood suckers are cool. Cock suckers are cool too and I get the metaphor just not 100% on board with that twist personally.

And then I think whilst the central conceit of being driven to produce art and achieving an artistic vision at all costs is AMAZING, the fly on the wall nature of the film structure meant that even though we had fantastic performances there was a distance with the director that reduced their likeability just a fraction. Its become clear on reflection that they were the central focus of the film but with fly on the wall if there is a multitude of action and characters that central focus whilst watching can get lost a bit sometimes, for me anyway.

So just for me personally I love the film you made and hope you have great success in the comp. Its technically amazing, the central conceit is fantastic and location plus use of competition elements is superb. Which is what we're after for 48Hours. Just being super honest that the fly on the wall created distance with the director and the twist I could see coming a mile away. Overall great work though Glitter Swarm!