A Letter To A Samurai

My 2nd fave of the night and really gutted for them that they were DQ. Really funny! Really well acted by the main guy! Some great looking shots! Let down though with the fight scene. I'm just a believer if you can't do something as good as the rest of the film then it's better to find a simpler way of getting the same idea across. Also the ending felt like it could have been stronger. Still my second favorite of the night and possible best DQ film award?

After watching this film, I was very disappointed that it was disqualified. It started with the most gorgeous dawn shot I've seen so far, mist through a field and the sun peeking up over the trees, and we cut to a pair of samurai walking through the picture. We soon discover the film is a comedy, about a talkative and inappropriate samurai student and his master, journeying to deliver a letter. After the first shot, the shots become a lot less epic, much closer and less interesting. It's probably an unfair thing to say, but after the sheer beauty of the first shot, the rest looked rather mediocre. It was still well shot, nicely graded and appropriately paced. We follow the samurai who walks along chattering as his silent master (or mistress in this case) follows. There's just something about the acting in the student character who is overly cheerful and ignorant which makes him loveable. He makes multiple references to his “slutty master” who is also very wise and silent, and there are some fantastic one-liners that sent the audience roaring with laughter. In one scene, the student, who had just been scared away by a thug guarding a fence, exclaiming “Were you trying to teach me a lesson? So sluttily wise.” It's hard to explain this film without ruining it, it's definitely one worth watching and has some fantastic dialogue and characters, it's guaranteed to make you laugh.

I enjoyed this film the most in the heat. For some reason the humour really appealed to me and i was chuckling the whole way through. However, the film became a bit weak towards the end, the fight was average and the slut jokes got a bit old. Overall a fantastic film - shame about a DQ

I was gutted that this film was DQ'd it is my favourite film of all the ones I've seen this year. The acting is the perfect combination of cheese and ham without being completely OTT. The male lead was hilarious and the master was brilliant. Congrats on an awesome script and very well played. It was so 'sluttily wise'!!!! From the opening 'that'd be a mean voice over eh?' to the freeze-frame I just loved it and I can't wait till it's put up online so I can save it to my favourites. Brilliant stuff.

All i have to say is awesome movie! Great use of shots and dialogue and i hope to see more films by this group of people later!

Just watched this in the screening room - gutted that you guys missed deadline! Good funny script, great delivery, beautifully shot. The lead was really likeable which is weird because in real life Jamaine's a dick. He was good in this though. The rest of the cast also did a great job - some very nice work there, especially considering a lot of the parts didn't have a lot of dialogue to play with... hopefully you guys get Best DQ'd Short. And yeah thank goodness they didn't cut each other's clothes off...

Saw this in the screening room, and I wish I had seen it in a room full of people, because I can imagine it would have brought the house down. Absolutely brilliantly written with some amazing dialogue from the lead - "so slutilly wise". A favourite moment for me was the confrontation near the beginning between "gatekeeper" and samurai apprentice. Absolutely gutted that this was disqualified, but they have probably heard about that enough. Really enjoyed it and I hope to see more from them soon!

Gold, this is far better than all of the movies I've seen online so far! Great work guys, would have made the Auckland finals.

I've watched this film so many times, it's that good. What really made it was the main actor. He naturally acted the role with great kiwi humour. The story was good enough, with many hilarious moments and lines "Yeah nah, that'd be a mean as opening voiceover". So disappointed this was DQ'd, would have most definitely been a grand finalist. Better luck next year guys, looking forward to it!

My 2nd fave of the night and really gutted for them that they were DQ. Really funny! Really well acted by the main guy! Some great looking shots! Let down though with the fight scene. I'm just a believer if you can't do something as good as the rest of the film then it's better to find a simpler way of getting the same idea across. Also the ending felt like it could have been stronger. Still my second favorite of the night and possible best DQ film award?