Saw the trailer and explored the website a long while back...looked very, very cool. Then saw several mentions of "over XX visual effects shots!!" repeated over and over in various comments and descriptions. Got a bit suspicious...
Saw the whole film this weekend. DVD menu: looks awesome! Credit sequence: looks awesome, builds excitement and expectation!
The actual film: not good. Very disappointing. So many missteps and "tin ear" moments that it was one of the biggest, "What were they thinking?!?" moments at the whole film festival.
The story is convoluted and barely served by the acting and editing (though actress Polay does a good job with the very,
very little she is given). The Duncan character (main villain) is straight out of the overwrought "look at me! I'm a craaazzyyy bad, bad man!" style of writing and acting.
Above all, the film shows a very immature, shallow sensibility informing most of the major decisions. The ending is just plain camp - so much like the end of the "Thriller" video that I expected to hear Vincent Price laughing in the background.
That said - - the "on message" buzz presented on review sites speaks volumes about how well these indie filmmakers have promoted their stuff. They clearly got the most they could out of their budget (whether or not it really was $8,000) and are riding this horse as far as it will take them. And, as I said, they do create a pretty cool look in many places.
As a fellow indie filmmaker, I understand and respect the work and determination that goes into that. However, if they truly have been given funding to do a feature (clearly their goal in making the short), I hope they focus less on the glitz and the positive press it has earned them from people with bad taste or low standards and more on telling an actual story with interesting characters (within your world of high action-adventure production values).
Saw the whole film this weekend. DVD menu: looks awesome! Credit sequence: looks awesome, builds excitement and expectation!
The actual film: not good. Very disappointing. So many missteps and "tin ear" moments that it was one of the biggest, "What were they thinking?!?" moments at the whole film festival.
The story is convoluted and barely served by the acting and editing (though actress Polay does a good job with the very,
very little she is given). The Duncan character (main villain) is straight out of the overwrought "look at me! I'm a craaazzyyy bad, bad man!" style of writing and acting.
Above all, the film shows a very immature, shallow sensibility informing most of the major decisions. The ending is just plain camp - so much like the end of the "Thriller" video that I expected to hear Vincent Price laughing in the background.
That said - - the "on message" buzz presented on review sites speaks volumes about how well these indie filmmakers have promoted their stuff. They clearly got the most they could out of their budget (whether or not it really was $8,000) and are riding this horse as far as it will take them. And, as I said, they do create a pretty cool look in many places.
As a fellow indie filmmaker, I understand and respect the work and determination that goes into that. However, if they truly have been given funding to do a feature (clearly their goal in making the short), I hope they focus less on the glitz and the positive press it has earned them from people with bad taste or low standards and more on telling an actual story with interesting characters (within your world of high action-adventure production values).
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