We're Dead and Gay

You're here! And Dead! And Gay!

I love this film - scrappy set design and a pretty cartoonish story, but probably one of the funniest films I've seen this year.

Every kiss made me laugh, ever duck under the table made me laugh, and the ending is so genuinely clever. Also good on you all for actually kissing on camera - gay or not in real life, this commitment to the bit is so rare to see in 48Hours. Am I saying more actors should kiss? Maybe.

Favourite line exchange of the year: "These questions are hard" "same".

I think this film is an interesting example of the evolution of the "gay" joke in the zeitgeist - 10-15 years ago, a lot of these kinds of films in 48Hours (and beyond) were problematic, and would be riddled with homophobic jokes. But as the progressive Zoomers have increased in numbers in the competition, we're starting to see comedies about gay characters, which are still comedic, but not offensive. The right people are made fun of here, and that's important.

Challenge for next year: The main thing holding you back from advancing beyond the shortlist this year, I think, is maybe that your production value and cinematography was a little on the amateur side - that and this sense of humour isn't to everyone's taste. But if you create a film that looks great and is edited great, that divide in taste won't be able to stop you from going further.

This is a fun little film with really good performances from the two leads. Love the opening sequence showing us the effect of something before we dive into the cause. Happy too that there is an attempt to deceive the audience although not sure it 100% works as it relies on outdated thinking that even a cynical Gen Xer like myself put behind me probably 40 years ago. But, you probably didn't intend for it to be a big "gotcha".

Yeah, the set is a bit lame.

Well-paced, good humour (if there are "right" people to make fun of then I guess you did it) and you made a commitment to the "bit" which is to be applauded.

Great work making the shortlist!