Tabula Rasa

Some thoughts about the 6 films we saw during the Gone Fishing seminar last week, starting with the obvious.

Gone Fishing
Gone Fishing is, in all honesty, a very good film and I really am not just saying that because it was the focus of the seminar or because Chris Jones is a nice guy. I hadn’t seen it before the seminar (although it is part of the online course) so it was a delight to see it for the first time being presented by its creator. It is an absolute gem of the film and there’s so much I can enthuse about. What struck me most of all was how bright it was. It’s unusual to see short films that have been shot on 35mm for obvious cost reasons, especially with the easy access to cheap digital cameras. Gone Fishing really made the most of it though and was absolutely stunning. There’s a slow motion sequence in the middle of the film which is jaw-droppingly magnificent and so evocative that I sat in awe while watching it. I believe the film is going to be available on iTunes before long so I really do encourage you to pay the $2 or whatever and download it because it’s worth it.

September
Esther May Campbell’s BAFTA winning short, shot on a mix of 16mm and HD, is exactly what comes to mind when you think about short films – arty and experimental. I got the distinct impression that the majority of the people on the seminar didn’t particularly like it because of that reason but personally I really liked it. I thought it was a charming little film and had some really lovely little touches. A few people asked what it was all meant to be about which surprised me because I felt the meaning was clear (albeit very much clouded in symbolism). In a lot of ways I felt that September represented exactly the reason that everyone in the room that day was there – to witness something magical, something that would inspire them to take the next step in whatever direction they were headed in. It’s definitely not going to appeal to everyone but it was right up my street.

Soft
Soft, by Simon Ellis, is a film about “Happy Slapping” and about youth violence. It’s a film that definitely made me feel uncomfortable (the first of three we saw that did) featuring, as it did, some quite violent scenes and raising a few questions about, well, about stuff. It wasn’t perfect by any means but what I did like about it was that it did ask questions and left enough ambiguity that there was something to discuss particularly in relation the actions of the father and why he did what he did. (Yes, sorry, without watching the film that’s going to mean nothing to you. As there’s no website to link to, you’ll have to Google yourself. There are clips on YouTube for a start.) A feelgood film, this most definitely was not.

Leaving
I’m conflicted about “Leaving”. It is a very good, very well acted and well directed film. It is also an extremely powerful film about domestic abuse and, once again, is anything but feelgood. I’m conflicted because as much as I can appreciate it, it feels very much like a docu-drama or a Crimewatch “reconstruction” film which, to be fair, it pretty much is. Leaving one the TCM Classic Shorts competition last year, ahead of Gone Fishing, but because of the terms and conditions of the competition, the film became available for viewing on the TCM website (here – where I think you can see the full version of the film). Because of this, it became ineligible for consideration for Oscar nomination – and it’s a fair bet that Leaving may have done quite well. The lesson here is that as much as winning competitions might be nice, you have to consider your festival strategy and ultimate goals for any short film you make.

New Boy
New Boy is the only film on this list to make the final five films that were nominated for an Oscar. (It didn’t win – that honor went to “Toyland”, a film about the Holocaust. ). I believe it’s based on a short story by Roddy Doyle and bears all the usual hallmarks of his: witty, poignant and warm-hearted. The story is about, unsurprisingly, a new boy in a class in an Irish school but this new boy happens to be a refugee from a war torn African country. It is a charming little film and was a fine end to the day, especially after the more than downbeat films we’d been subjected to. I belive it may be online to view (as are the other nominees) but I can’t find a link – it should definitely be available on iTunes.

Side Effect
Right, here’s your heads up. I’m going to be delving into spoilers for this film because it’s the only way I can explain it. If you want to watch it and see it blind, don’t carry on reading.

I didn’t like this film a bit which, considering it’s a horror film, is actually quite surprising. I’m well aware that I was watching it towards the end of a long day and on the back of four hours sleep so my emotional state was questionable. The film is about a teenage student who is babysitting for a couple and doing some household chores for them including preparing and cooking a turkey. She’s studying to get into college (I assume) and to help her, she’s popping some new pills that are meant to assist her concentration and focus. Queue unforseen consequences. Except that they aren’t that unforseen at all and that’s one of the problems with the film – it pretty much telegraphs what’s going to happen right from the outset.

After a few scenes showing the “side effects” of the pills, the couple return home to find that the babysitter has managed to drown their infant son while giving him a bath and has also managed to swap their baby for the turkey and put the baby in the oven. It was all highly predictable. Where it crossed the line for me, however, was showing the baby cooking in the oven. I’ll admit that it could be argued that the film achieved its purpose in disturbing and shocking the audience but quite frankly, the last reveal was un-fucking-necessary. We knew what had happened when the turkey was shown to be wrapped up in the baby’s blanket so showing the contents of the oven was nothing less than gratuitous. Up to that point, I just thought it wasn’t a particular well written film but after that, it moved into the Like? Definitely Do Not. (Disclaimer – it didn’t help that the baby in the film appeared to be a similar age to my daughter so yes, I had was always going to have a particular emotional response. Your mileage may vary.)

As a side note, there was sketch in the BBC3 comedy show “Man Stroke Woman” that had a similar premise. That did actually tickle me. Funny old world isn’t it.

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Burn Baby Burn, Chris Jones, Esther May Campbell, Filmmaking, Films, Gone Fishing, Leaving, Man Stroke Woman, New Boy, Oscars, Roddy Doyle, September, Short films, Side Effect, Simon Ellis, Soft