Masters at work here! A fantastic story, it feels like a great anecdote you’d hear at a dinner party. The performance from the lead actress was fantastic. Completely convincing. The camera work is scrumptious and enhanced by a beautiful colour grade. The structure was perfect. The highlight of the film for me was the performance by the Pastor. Their use of profanity was like the climax to a spiritual conflict AND a great punchline. Well done! Show less

This haunting, heartbreaking film delivered a real punch. Director Julie and the team of creatives that concocted this concept were clever with their manipulation of the audience’s expectations. The twist ending was a subversion that created meaning and introspection. Outstanding performances from the cast that sell the tragedy at the core of their idea. At the grand finals, the director, Julie spoke so eloquently and so beautifully. Her consideration and artistic intention created a powerful project. Well done. Show less

Well done on this film. It was so much fun. A right laugh from start to finish. For a heist film, their choice of what would be the loot was hilarious. Perhaps it was a choice made for availability concern, but still felt it had me in fits of uproarious laughter. Excellent comedic tone. Congratulations Show less

Well-deserved Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard and amazing to see Kratos' dream of coming to the 48Hours Grand Finals come true with 'The Long Neck Job'. I love all the surprises in the film, the alpaca in the car, the crash, the 'accident' all these elements make this film really exciting to watch and the audience at the Embassy loved it! I also liked some of the subtle moments, for example the guy playing piano in the background. If you want any constructive feedback, about what could be improved? I felt the death was a bit intense for the situation and maybe there was a missed opportunity not creating a sweet/heart moment with the daughter who wanted the Llama. All in all, a great year for Kratos and Gisborne! Show less

The presentation of this film shows that this team knows what they are doing technically. The locations are well selected, and filmed at just the right time of day to convey the right emotion. The acting is also solid and engaging. The only thing I would say is that it wasn't clear to me what was happening with the story. You've got the lovers on the run, but I didn't feel like it had a solid emotional core. Show less

I've been sitting and thinking about this film for months and months, umming and ahhing about the thoughts in my brain versus what comes out of my keyboard here. Because ultimately for me this does a number of things better than almost any film I've ever seen in the competition from a technical point of view, but the disjointed, conjoining stylised fairytale narrative genuinely had me scratching me head.

I'm not trying to make this a hot take but this might be the great trailer ever produced in 48 Hours.

The camerawork, direction, edit, grade, sound, music and performances are phenomenal. The coverage is out of this world and yet from a narrative point of view our central conceit is that twin flames will go any lengths for the other person?

Having said that yes it is delivered with nuanced tone and intensity to the point where we buy what you're selling as viewers. The onscreen journey is riveting, uptempo and engaging. There is also a heavy resolution of reality, more akin to BADLANDS than the structural nods to TRUE ROMANCE and NBK that one might expect here.

But honestly being technically so good I was frustrated by the lack of narrative depth to the plot, and felt that being so open ended in nature hurt the story because it made the tech wizardry overshadow the story. And story is king in 48. Show less

First of all, congratulations on the win team, you are an exciting and talented group and to take out the grand final this year was a brilliant effort to catch the eye of the stacked panel of international judges.

And it was a surprise victory, as not a single 48 Hours veteran I spoke to had this film at #1...and yet we were quite clearly wrong in terms of how this competition is judged, as 6-7 people I caught up with (plus more in online comments) who were watching the grand final from a fresh point of view had you as their top pick and ultimately that's what everyone needs to sit back and realise. We (veterans, competitors and regional judges) are thinking too long and hard about the competition elements and requirements in our 'rankings'. The grand final judging is looking at one main thing and one main thing only.

And that is...Does the film stand up outside the confines of the competition? Because that will be your national winner each and every year. Like Chicken was for 2024.

So onto the bones of the film itself. Is the film a bit raw? Yes, no doubt to me about that, with a sound mix that for the first 90 seconds of the film was not clean, wind on the soundtrack and reverb from neighbours calling across to each other, and framing before the game to kill boredom gets serious not exactly drawing the viewer in, and camerawork whilst clean didn't really hold a candle to the top level grades I saw on show in this competition.

Is the film a bit silly? Also yes, ultimately developing into one long fight scene that bursts off the screen with camerawork and editing that calls to mind the best work of Sam Raimi. The energy of your performers is phenomenal and the match cut is of course a chef's kiss moment.

The final joke also superbly delivered, creating an overall well rounded short based on the sum of its parts.

So when I first watched the film I cracked up, thought it was amazing and others who watched it with me thought the same.

But for me if we're going to award a comedy-centred film as the national champion in this competition I personally want it to A. be technically bulletproof and B. be clearly overwhelmingly better than the rest of the field. This wasn't for mine, but represented the spirit of the competition so again congratulations! Show less