Good Girl

Traces Of Nut have knocked it out of the park yet again with a film as unique and original as you are likely to see in the comp on any given year. Can we give best performer to Winchester Hewiberts the First please? In all seriousness though, Emma Draper did a terrific job carrying the film and leading the 9 marvelous doggos around.

Highlighting the dangers of paying more attention to self-help podcasts than where you are walking, 'Good Girl' was a simply marvelous full circle type short that harkened back to ideas laid out as groundwork at the beginning of the film, and then explosively laid bare by the end, with an ultimate theme of putting others ahead of yourself through sacrifice.

Yes it was Splatter genre, and yes did they knock that out of the park in the most outrageous and inventive way possible. It could have been simple and gone for shock and comedy, but there was a resonating depth here that was sold by a great script.

Editing smooth as butter. I always love how Traces of Nut films are so well framed that you never notice the edit from one transiton to the next, with your attention as a viewer always directed to the optimal spot.

Camerawork fantastic. It cannot have been easy managing all those loveable canines (and how did you get so many? To behave so well together??). Good gear used yes, but I would implore everyone to see what a massive difference having every single shot properly lit, even with natural lighting, and in razor sharp focus can do to elevate your short.

Great job team!

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

Loved the feel of this film. The weight of the film rested on the shoulders of the leads performance and she carried it to the final frame.
The special effects enhanced the cheesy nature of the film. The tension was high once the action kicked in and the ending came naturally.
Congratulations of a stellar film.

Seamless, satirical and with a message. A quality production that will be hard to beat.

Well, this was quite well made, interesting and a little twisted.
However, for anyone with a fondness for their canine friend this film may have taken things a bit too far. Exploding dogs are definitely not laugh-out-loud comedic drama even for cat lovers. However they give effect to the story and obviously the genre.
Looking past the canine massacre before me, I was becoming even more disturbed by the obvious use of a copycat plot device. I went back and watched Peptok (Grand National Winner) from 2018 to confirm that indeed the same plot device of the self help woman's voice in the earbuds of the protagonist is being used in the 2021 Grand Nation Winning film... hmmm.... I recall the word "originality" being important part of this competition.
Following on with the film which so far had served up only a shock effect, I was then caught off guard by the sudden switch in narrative voice to the Dog! Who's talking? Wheres that voice coming from? Oh it's the dog giving a monologue that makes little sense about some military association... hmmm that was a thin line to draw from the writers and throws the audience out of the story. Ah but its a splatter film you might say... yes but it's still a film and all films in this competition need to be original and have strong narrative structure.
The ending came as no surprise. Most of everyone has guessed it unless they have left the room already.
So this is it. Our Winning film? I saw some awesome films in this competition and while this is finalist material, I certainly would not have picked it as the winner. 3/5 from me.