Attendance Mandatory

Like I know BLACK MIRROR is popular, but the opening minute or so of this felt so similar to that show combined with a lo-fi version of 2018 national winner Peptok that I almost fell out of my chair, as our lead kept getting messages in their head through some implanted A.I. type device. However luckily the team turned it around by playing to their genre with the stakes raised as an important invitation comes through.

Then another invite comes through. And another etc, until a 1984-type pressure develops and our protagonist is left with a moral dilemma of safety for the community or individual freedom.

I liked the light moments in the script here. The invisible fireworks for example was particularly well done comedy, and the acting performances were strong in terms of screen presence.

Sound was clean which was very important for a film driven by its aural centrepiece. However despite the overall storyline being a solid foundation, I just felt a bit of a disconnect between our protagonists' issues and how it was being visualised on screen. I get that's one way you can go about black comedy but I literally felt distant by the end with the long tracking shots just not giving us dramatic or comedic impact as the film moved towards its finale. Contrasting one with the other for mine doesn't automatically create a balance.

So yes honestly a little frustrating for me because technically lots to like, especially that you got such clean footage with a lot of the film shot outside, and you had really good actors. I just felt that where it fell down a bit was needing more cinematic moments (close ups, in particular) to sell your big moments.

Story: 2.5/5
Technical: 2.5/5
Elements: 2.5/5
Overall: 2.5/5