The Practitioner

Lost for words at the ending.

A guy has a problem with his shower and so gets a plumber in to check out his pipe. This had a really nice looking start but that whole sequence was largely irrelevant to the rest of the film. Breakfast montages...sigh. When the film finally gets started it's pretty funny. The cast delivers the humour well, even if some of the dialogue is rather painfully written. The strength of this film is the way subtle innuendo has been used and the general felling of awkwardness that is portrayed. Apart from some grating guitar, this is a nicely constructed short that got plenty of laughs at the end. Might just see it in the finals!

Thought the acting was hilarous, our whole team was laughing at the pizza boys lines. You guys turned something that should have been very crude into something clever. I'd love to see this make city finals but who knows...

yes yes yes yes yes! I really really really hope to see this film at the finals and beyond. while the film starts and continues largely as a very standard and frankly boring 48hours film (inside a fridge shot, meal prep) the shock ending turns the entire thing around and validates everything we have seen up until that point. The montage of innuendo's right at the end was amazing. obviously it's a minor thing but this film could have benefited from higher quality cinematography and editing, not that the cinematography and editing didn't work for the film but it's the one area that will separate this film from other great 48hours films. i really only say this because the story/ending was so darn good. That's just me though, here's hoping that the judges look past technical stuff like that and just concentrate on the brilliant short film with an amazing ending.

Not a lot happened in the meat of the movie, which left me constantly wondering what was going to happen. I thought it was funny how awkward the plumber was with the home owner. Not too much of a surprise ending considering how obvious all the signs were that something was up, though the editing sequence at the end was pretty intense and interesting. The final shot was unnecessary and I think it detracted from the otherwise enjoyable film.

The interesting thing about the viewing experience of this one for me in the heat was that at no point was I ever really clear where the film was going. Which was probably a good (if disorienting) thing. (It's worth noting that I hadn't really paid attention to its genre, so I wasn't waiting for a Shock Ending.) Opening was good, some decent camera work set over a simple yet tonally appropriate guitar piece (pretty basic recording but did the trick - felt like a classic old-school style 48hours soundtrack that we don't hear very often anymore). Our guy makes breakfast, then goes to have a shower, but it's not working, so he calls a plumber. The best thing to say about this film is how much restraint it displays. The filmmakers were confident enough to let the ambiguities of characters' motives just linger for a good five minutes, slowly building up a kind of unease. But there's plenty of comedy in there too. The long one-shot awkward side-by-side-on-the-couch drinking tea scene was a highlight (it may be a dad-joke, but that salary/celery gag was great), and the main guy in particular turned in a very nicely understated performance, being careful not to ham it up or wander into screwball, demonstrative territory. Pizza delivery guy was maybe a little weaker than the other two, but I liked that he brought a totally different type of energy to the story. The ending comes upon you very unexpectedly, which is genre-appropriate I guess. And it was hilarious. But then, sadly, the whole thing is ruined by an entire unnecessary extra shot, which basically spells out the joke that we've already got. It really was a shame, because without it this film's ending would have had a mighty WTF punch, i.e. eyes meet, flashflashflashflashflash rapid montage, smile, black. Then kick in with credits over some punchy music. Anyway, a great wee film, with the various elements *almost* lining up perfectly. I look forward to seeing what you do next.

Thought the acting was hilarous, our whole team was laughing at the pizza boys lines. You guys turned something that should have been very crude into something clever. I'd love to see this make city finals but who knows...