I Wish

Some incredible imagery in this film, probably some of the most well constructed art direction in the competition nationwide.

It's always somewhat of a quandary with films like this, which feature shots and sequences that look like they could be pulled from a major Hollywood production, but then other parts of the film tend to bring it down.

One thing I would note is the story is a little vague/non-existent, and excluding the bookending flashforward scenes (which I'll get to next), it kinda feels less like a story and more like an excuse to show off some amazing production design. And once again, it is amazing production design.

Now, those bookended flashforwards which open and close the film, Ironically, I think should have been taken out. They don't look nearly as good or compelling or meticulously designed as the war sequences - they aren't even colour graded particularly well considering. I said that the war sequences look like they're from a Hollywood blockbuster, but these scenes give the truth away. And we OPEN the film with one of these scenes.

This somewhat diminishes your coming-of-age genre, so then that would need to be worked into the meat of your story, but these are the retroactive notes teams love hearing from me. Right?

Challenge for next year: Combine your incredible production value with a more clear and compelling story, and you'll go far. You'll probably win, tbh.