Order For Help

Man, this was too funny. Makes me wish heats were in cinema just to hear the crowd wheezing with as much laughter as I was. The two leads gave the simple, fitting-to-the-genre premise a HEAP of power—I pray one of you get a performance nomination. The sly grindhouse aesthetic also gave the straightforward setting a slick and distinctive atmosphere (which is sorely needed in a comp where most films are set in someone’s house).

The only big setback came with the ending, with I felt didn’t capitalise on the fantastic (comedic) tension built up before. It begged for something insane, but delivered something a bit subdued in comparison. (I think the final few seconds also broke the ‘real-time’ rules.)

Nevertheless, I’m aching to watch this one again.

Comically genius film where a casual pizza delivery driver encounters a strangely immobilized customer and hilarity ensues. The tone was fantastic and the editing was the best I have seen so far in the Auckland heats, no small feat, with each and every shot held for the perfect amount of frames to deadpan deliver the pizza humour.

Both actors gave absolutely outstanding performances. Our driver presented the happy go lucky casually employed weekend worker incredibly well with an infectious smile and gutbusting focus on his job. Your bedridden actor was equally as impressive, doing an amazing job at selling agony, fear and hope through facial expressions alone.

The aesthetic was sublime, with the buildup to the customer reveal intriguing as the dark night and fog paid homage to TAXI DRIVER before a 42nd street version of MISERY took over.

Script of course was the highlight with joke after joke giving me belly laughs. Impressive considering it was played straight and it was the delivery through nuance and performances that made the laughs ensue.

I liked the ending. I felt that the team were going for a slice of life and that part of the excitement was leaving us with open ended questions. Whilst it was incredibly strange in feeling at times, I feel like a large part of this was by how it made us feel through sound and music choices, and one final missed opportunity to cry out just felt right.

Story: 4.5/5
Technical: 4.5/5
Elements: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/

At the Auckland Finals this vibed with the audience so well. The audience just "got" everything. And for all I care, the reversed shot at the end should've been intentional - it was that cool to watch.

I'm with steelpotato in that the editing is amazing - every shot is on screen for the perfect amount of frames; that sequence of opening the pizza box is like a master class on editing. The Vimeo account that uploaded this video I see has other godlike editing and concepts, which I think are so cool.

The sound is also very cool. I'm amazed at how the volume of "come up stairs Pizza boy" (or something along those lines) was perfectly audible but still came across as a whisper - as well as how this line was repeated, just in case anyone in the audience wanted to check they heard right; the theatre that was laughing could hear it, and even with several people talking over it at home. So cool.

"HELP.. MEE", "PEPER-RON-II?". Is a quote that's been in my head for the entire week.

As with any story, it's always "what would make a better story" and that's not necessarily to give the character who clearly needs help a happy ending. Personally, I thought it was a perfect way to end the story.

Also, it was cool to see that, being an audience member, I'm completely fine with it not being explained why he can't just untie himself, or how he is able to get up at the end, or how the pizza boy is able to avoid all the obvious signs that he needs help. It's realism versus what the audience can agree with for that movie's universe, for fun (is there a word for that?) - which is really fun to think about; and you guys' nailed it, a master class there.