Shit Chat

Honestly, Free Cinematic Luts, I LOVED your film and I'm genuinely flabbergasted that this did not make the Auckland final. I've watched everything in New Zealand this year and this was literally tracking in my top 5 nationwide, with the most startling ending to a 48 Hours film that I have ever seen.

But let's work backwards, because I'm literally trying to make head and tails over what the judges didn't like here. Yes it's absolutely crude as fuck, but it's also technically on point with fantastic performances and script and nailing the genre.

"Story is king" is my first point I want to address, because that has always been the mantra of the competition. What are we all looking to actually see made on the weekend? To me I want to see original stories with well structured beats driven by an engaging dramatic question. To me SHIT CHAT ticks all of these boxes. There is no lack of clarity about the dramatic arc, in fact I found it incredibly satisfying; we see character development through back and forth dialogue where we only see one party (I mean, c'mon - Missing Pixels got 2nd in 2017 with that sort of approach so I don't see how that's an issue all of a sudden), heck even sound is really good.

In terms of coming back to the film itself, one of the things I liked the most about this film, where a festival goer opens up to try and open up their constipated bowels, is the colour play. The lime green portaloo walls made for eye catching cinematic scenery with our lead's light red Hawaiian shirt, with flourishes introduced to add breathing room such as orange juice in the background or other patrons taking a break from their festival experience.

The one negative might be the film being too static, but the team seemed incredibly aware of the need to break up the pacing so that's very much an absolutely minor nitpick. I guess the comedy is also not everyone's cup of tea, but honestly this is the most egregious miss by judges I've seen since Floater Films not making the Wellington final in 2007 when I had them pegged to win the whole comp.

Maybe it's me though. Love your work team.

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

Whoa that was a brilliant film. What an ending. Was waiting for a really epic unloading and I was not disappointed.
For a single location and simple premise this had me hooked. The performances were just what was needed and possibly one of the most memorable lines from any film so far "the heart and the asshole are connected" love it