Mysterious Girl

2009 National Winners don't disappoint. Incredible (and different) animation style, lovely voice-over, and remarkably poignant. The sort of film you just don't expect to see at 48 hours. Definite for the finals, will be hard to top.

Great short which ticked all of the boxes. Great aesthetic, great story and emotion. Linemen have done it again by creating a story we actually care about. Well done. I'm sure you'll be in the finals.

Pros: Great dialogue, audio and very pretty paper craft animation. Emotional story which kept the audience glued. The clapping was delayed as the audience wanted to make sure they didn't miss a thing. Cons: The compulsory line of dialogue felt really clunky - sad considering the otherwise tight narrative. A potentially risky move tackling an earthquake story? We'll see how it plays out.

With the unlimited power of curled paper, an animation stand and a mighty, mighty group of smiling professionals, there was little doubt that this film had the potential to impress. Parry & John are a power team of visual and editorial skill, Rudy Adrians music is perfect, timely and beautifully arranged. The narrator, Kerry, is a nice counterpoint to the male lead of their 2009 winner 'Charlotte'....but...and this reviewer now hesitates, haven't we seen 'this' before? Parrys capable story telling skills reduce his need to take any serious risks. Doubtlessly, 'Mysterious Girl' is a good story, (perhaps a little circuituous at the beginning though), and it led to a satisfactory ending. Yet, as an audience, we weren't surprised or delighted. We were, (please, forgive me Mr Jones), once again reminded of how jolly good you are at what you do...telling good stories very well indeed. An animation of this calibre is a mighty feat under the best of conditions, and 48Hours is not the best of conditions! So any production of the standards that Linemen set is a bar raised very high indeed. I congratulate Linemen in a laudable effort, a true sonnet of visual skill and a testimony to the efforts of those devoted to their craft. No doubt we'll see this at the City Finals. I just wish I liked it a bit more.

I don't really have a lot to add to Bone In My Beard's review, which I think is a very considered, eloquent appraisal of this film, but I feel like I should say something. I feel infinitely under-qualified to comment at all about a film of this caliber, but I shall do it anyway. As ever, a tight, beautiful production. Visually polished (that is an understatement), and a lean, effecting story. My problems with the film are exactly that: my problems. When watching the film, I had a faint sense that it was *too* lean and *too* effecting; I had a looming feeling that it was acutely aware of what judges look for in this competition. That is obviously not a very valid complaint about a film, but it did feel to me somewhat calculated, and that prevented me from becoming truly invested in the story. Don't get me wrong, I am not a "too soon"-er about the earthquake, but its inclusion in the story felt almost emotionally manipulative. Neither am I one to resent pros in the competition. What is it if not a celebration of ability? However, something about this short left me cold, and I'm fairly certain it has something to do with the emotional beats in the film being too baldly emotional. As mentioned above, I feel very uncomfortable speaking negatively about a film of such obvious quality and beauty (of the kind which I could only hope to ever create myself), but for me, this film left me unsatisfied. Anyway, enough waffling. May the Linemen continue to let beauty flow forth from their brainholes!

Superb animation and storytelling, with a solid background given to the characters and the events all explained clearly. One of my favourites of the night.

This was definitely a favourite. This awesome three-man team decided to try something completely different and didn't disappoint. The narrative was somewhat touching, with the undertones of a complicated friendship underneath the love that the two main characters had for each other. I love the risk they took with including the Christchurch earthquake - something that's touchy for a lot of people. The papercraft was very impressive for something that only took 48 hours to make. Fucking solid effort, guys. Respect.

This tells the story of a girl who meets up with a girl she knew in high school for some wine, there is an earthquake.. but she finds her friend is fine. This was really well made, the animation style was original and clever, and kept me entertained the whole time. What can I say about this film? Sound was good, fitted well with the visuals and helped drive the story along (for instance the munching sound was great), music fitted as well, the editing was solid. Cinematography was really slick here and helped bring the brilliant animation to life... the animation here was the main thing that stood out for me. However despite all these great film making talents I didn't like this film, here's why. It had a terrible story. Alot of reviews say they like the story.. and I admit it was well written, just not a good story, it's like Jules Vern being forced to write two word per page childerens books. With slick animations like this and so much effort put in i was hoping for at least a nice yarn, and secretly hoping for some amazing story that would not only blow me away but also take advantage of using animation. "Limitless" and "Crank" spring to mind.. I would have loved a story like that, that messed with your mind and partnered with the animation in telling a truly surreal story. With animation you have so many avenues you can explore... things you can not do in live action films. A few examples are extream expressions, violent action, surreal moments, and unexpectedness (See Charlie the Unicorn on Youtube!). However I really felt let down here i'll be honest... a boring story coupled with amazing film making talent, a waste of such skill. Also a more animated voice over (or more surreal - see "Waking Life" or "Waltz with Bashir", two amazing films that take advantage of animation to tell their story, and have solid voice overs). I also didn't like the inclusion of the earthquake element, as you can imagine why. It's not too soon, just not like this. Your team has alot of potential, the animation and visuals here (and sound) were finals material, I'm really looking forward to seeing your future work and I hope you really think outside the box in terms of what you can achieve with animation. I really suggest watching at least "Waking Life" (or just youtube it) as it has some inspirational use of animation.

A woman recounts an unexpected meeting with an old school friend (who was always prone to exaggeration) in Christchurch on the afternoon of February 22nd, 2011. I have to admit that the first time I watched this I didn't care for it that much, but I've since had a number of viewings and I'm learning to appreciate it more. One thing about the earthquakes in Christchurch is that everybody has a story - where they were, who they were with, narrow escapes etc - and 'Mysterious Girl' captures that idea brilliantly. I for example, was in the central city that morning at a meeting and was fortunate enough not to be part of a similar meeting that took place at around 12:45. If you live here, you hear these stories all the time. So for me, 'Mysterious Girl' is a very clever, perceptive story about coincidences, luck, fate etc. As in the story, the people of CHCH were just going about their day - the earthquake was an exclamation point on it. The animation is great, the voiceover is again honest and natural, the soundtrack perfect. This is the style of 'Linemen' - a simple, sweet story that is technically strong and is why they were crowned 2009 48HR Grand National champions. Animation can give you the opportunity to do something surreal but it's in no way necessary. So I agree: you do have potential - to win it all again one day! I certainly encourage people to watch 'Mysterious Girl' again.

2009 National Winners don't disappoint. Incredible (and different) animation style, lovely voice-over, and remarkably poignant. The sort of film you just don't expect to see at 48 hours. Definite for the finals, will be hard to top.

With the unlimited power of curled paper, an animation stand and a mighty, mighty group of smiling professionals, there was little doubt that this film had the potential to impress. Parry & John are a power team of visual and editorial skill, Rudy Adrians music is perfect, timely and beautifully arranged. The narrator, Kerry, is a nice counterpoint to the male lead of their 2009 winner 'Charlotte'....but...and this reviewer now hesitates, haven't we seen 'this' before? Parrys capable story telling skills reduce his need to take any serious risks. Doubtlessly, 'Mysterious Girl' is a good story, (perhaps a little circuituous at the beginning though), and it led to a satisfactory ending. Yet, as an audience, we weren't surprised or delighted. We were, (please, forgive me Mr Jones), once again reminded of how jolly good you are at what you do...telling good stories very well indeed. An animation of this calibre is a mighty feat under the best of conditions, and 48Hours is not the best of conditions! So any production of the standards that Linemen set is a bar raised very high indeed. I congratulate Linemen in a laudable effort, a true sonnet of visual skill and a testimony to the efforts of those devoted to their craft. No doubt we'll see this at the City Finals. I just wish I liked it a bit more.

This was definitely a favourite. This awesome three-man team decided to try something completely different and didn't disappoint. The narrative was somewhat touching, with the undertones of a complicated friendship underneath the love that the two main characters had for each other. I love the risk they took with including the Christchurch earthquake - something that's touchy for a lot of people. The papercraft was very impressive for something that only took 48 hours to make. Fucking solid effort, guys. Respect.

A woman recounts an unexpected meeting with an old school friend (who was always prone to exaggeration) in Christchurch on the afternoon of February 22nd, 2011. I have to admit that the first time I watched this I didn't care for it that much, but I've since had a number of viewings and I'm learning to appreciate it more. One thing about the earthquakes in Christchurch is that everybody has a story - where they were, who they were with, narrow escapes etc - and 'Mysterious Girl' captures that idea brilliantly. I for example, was in the central city that morning at a meeting and was fortunate enough not to be part of a similar meeting that took place at around 12:45. If you live here, you hear these stories all the time. So for me, 'Mysterious Girl' is a very clever, perceptive story about coincidences, luck, fate etc. As in the story, the people of CHCH were just going about their day - the earthquake was an exclamation point on it. The animation is great, the voiceover is again honest and natural, the soundtrack perfect. This is the style of 'Linemen' - a simple, sweet story that is technically strong and is why they were crowned 2009 48HR Grand National champions. Animation can give you the opportunity to do something surreal but it's in no way necessary. So I agree: you do have potential - to win it all again one day! I certainly encourage people to watch 'Mysterious Girl' again.