We built and destroyed a full sized cardboard u-boat specifically and only for this competition. also known as “DAS BANANA-BOOT”

Beneath the surface of the water, a sleeping submarine crew is arisen by a call to lunch, whereupon all hell breaks lose thanks to a cabin crew boy hungry for his banana and a superstitious female officer who thinks the ship will be doomed if he eats the ripe yellow fruit.

Holy hell guys the production on this film was literally insane. I've heard potentially weeks of prep went into the skeleton of the set and thanks to a combination of stellar camerawork and impeccable sound design, for the most part I felt like I was right there underwater with whales swimming beside me. Me saying 'for the most part' is probably going to be my most critical part of the review, as it was only a miniscule amount of the film where I did feel like I was watching a set rather than a submarine. Only other minor negative was the invisibility element being throwaway for mine, though funny.

Can I first of all take a minute to gush about the gushing water? Like what. the. actual. FUCK? Just next level! Firstly it felt like an actually believable re-enactment of the stressful moments of TITANIC but then those underwater shots blew my mind.

And the hydraulics. The Hydraulics! Whwoarrr!!! The sparks flying! The fire! It was very much 'how did they do that?!' at several moments throughout the film.

Also that edit was dynamically sublime with silky smooth transitions for example above water to below with superb triangular framed focus and energy so that the film always felt kinetic and alive.

Music was knocked out of the park by Liam Reid with another sublime piece, this time calling to mind Ennio Morricione which gave the whole film a unique spin, yet a perfect spin as the duelists for the banana reflected western duelists in many ways.

But in spite of the insane technical achievement, what I really liked this in this film was the focused storytelling. It all focused on the yellow skinned delicacy and the lengths our 2 rivals would go. This was a film where gears shifted both metaphorically and literally and was all the better for it, with moments of comedic gold whether slapstick or gross working as the beats the audience needed to go from engaged to captivated. Also the heartbeat being the ship itself? Yeah that's good, real good.

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

These are the types of films that tickle my film bone. Completely out the gate exactions of bizarre ideas. Beyond the story elements a technical marvel and the atmosphere was outta this world.
Would love to see what this team can do more on the story side of things as it seems like big locations is a staple in their film making. 100% would watch a longer version of this film.