The Hand You're Dealt

I think that the film would have been a lot better off without the tortured poker as metaphor for life thing. Each of the individual stories had some interest, but I don't think that the poker stuff was a strong way to link them together. Technically, it was pretty good though

I actually liked the black-and-white poker scene. I didn’t follow very well what was going on in the seperate stories, but around the poker table, ideas seemed somewhat clear. The story I created in my head involved each of those characters having money problems and going to gambling as a last resort. You know one of them is going to end up okay and the others will be even lower, but who will it be? And who deserves it most? But I think that was just the plot in my head, not in the film.

Reflecting on the choices we make being pretty much a gamble, this was quite heavy handed in the way it presented poker as a metaphor for life. An elderly grandfather struggling with depression, a young man not really watching out in the dark alleys of night time, and a couple coming to grips with unexpected pregnancy came together. An ambitious short, I think it would have worked better without the black and white scene.

Even with the poker scene, I'm still not sure how the story lines converged (sorry). It felt as though they were going to come together on some big thing at the end, but they didn't. I found myself wondering during the poker scene if they were speaking in the right directions given where they were each sitting - I know, it's only a little thing and I should have been listening more at that stage. Thought the acting from the banjo player was good. Little bit of tweaking was needed with sound levels in a couple of places but overall quite a polished piece.