Periodic Elements

A guy prepares for the return of his girlfriend but is convinced by his mate to go out on the town, where he parties and gets laid. Some other characters pop up (the gardener is awesome) and our lead eventually discovers his mate is getting it on with his girlfirend. Not sure how this was a rom-com and I was a bit confused by the whole thing (not sure if my summary above is even accurate!) There seemed to be some flashbacks/visions going on through use of a wire ring which confused the hell out me. Some jump cuts detracted as did a few sound issues. Some good acting however and the short received a good reaction from the audience. Runner-up audience favourite in the Heat.

Some wickedly sharp editing in this film was only let down by the occasional obvious editing SNAFU, (http://tiny.cc/SNAFU). Genuinely funny, in particular the scene in the shower, well done to the actor and actress who played that scene. The color balancing was rich and vivid, however the night scenes were let down by some overall darkness in tone, which did not make it easy to see the protagonists reactions. I was not convinced that the film required so much swearing, I can understand having the character who played the antagonist to swear as it came across from a Guy Ritchie type character, however it seams that everyone else swears, and with that, there is a lot of character blending that goes on. However overall the film stood out (in both good and not so great ways) and with its wicked sense of humor, this film has a good chance of progressing through.

This fast-moving short begins out in the woods, introducing us to Lester and his girlfriend, who for some reason is nicknamed Helium (I believe it was explained as to why, but I missed it). Helium is off for a while, leaving Lester to his own devices. His speed-talking friend tells him he should take this opportunity to go a bit wild and accompany him to a party. They drop in to see a dubiously accented Bobby Young, who sells Lester a pheromone-soaked shirt to wear the party. This works a treat - Lester ends up in a one night stand, but then realises he's supposed to have picked up Helium - only to find her in the shower with his mate (a scene complete with some naked buttocks). After an encounter with a scary Irish gardener, he bails on the whole scene, and heading for the airport, he has hitchhiking run ins with a stoner, the gardener (who tries pulling moves on him) again, and a luggage stealing thief before finally catching a promising lift right at the end of the film with a random, relatively-sane looking girl. This film barrelled along. Events moved at such a pace that it became a bit hard to tell who was who and what was up, and it seemed a bit more like a series of events than a story, if you know what I mean. The film also seemed to end just at the point that a rom-com would start. However, there were some great, energetic performances and plenty of laugh out loud moments.