Sweets

Quite honestly I think this is Disqualified Tim's best ever 48 Hours film, an incredibly strange but visually spectacular film that uses a FANTASTIC PLANET otherworldly cinematic landscape to deliver an ultimately sweet film with body horror touches and odes to Yorgas Lanthimos.

The fact that the whole thing is done with the freshest A.I generation techniques in town is quite simply startling. Tim is humble about his work but for me this 100% raised the bar about what is possible over the weekend. If you didn't catch the team intro he's gone the opposite route of sets and costumes and meta commentary of previous years, and instead provided us with a wondrous singular vision.

It's all him. Literally all Tim Hamilton, as we are taken on dreamy voyage into the land of Tim, with plantlife and creatures alike all based on the body parts and mannerisms of our inimitable star and director through generative A.I.

From flying legs to LABYRINTH inspired eyeballs on unexpected body parts, this is visually seering into the brain almost immediately.

Yet the tone as advised is warm and lovely, putting a gleeful smile on the viewers face. The bubbly soundtrack is the perfect rhythmic bouncing melody to keep this a gentle film in spite of scrotums and fisting. It's eye opening, but never 'graphic' in the classic sense, merely a traveler on a quest for sweets and selling it completely.

I mean for goodness sake we even get some touching conversations about consent thrown in for good measure. There's never been anything like it in this comp.

Helped along the way like Dorothy and her pals by happy go lucky body parts, we are invested and want to see the threat unravel. We care about our loin clothed protagonist, we want to see what the sweets are and him to overcome the odds to get said sweets.

The payoff is rewarding. I'm envious of his outrageous talent and I want to see this win the whole damn competition.

Thread* unravel not threat. whoops!

Never seen anything like it.. Not sure exactly what I saw, Not sure I want to know.. For anyone on the fence over generative AI, This might be the perfect example of its usefulness as a tool. Or its danger as a tool when applied by the mind of Tim. A very sweet film that leaves a confusingly pleasant taste in the mouth.

"Disqualified Tim" pushes boundaries and the competition is better off as a result.
This is no exception. He didn't make a space station or submarine this year, he simply altered reality and made another great piece of 48Hours history.

This will win the 'Incredibly Strange Award.'

A simple story of a traveler seeking candy turns into a kaleidoscopic wonderland of the surreal. Well-conceived, crafted, and produced.
Tim Hamilton is a national treasure and should be making feature films with budgets that allow his genius to be shared with a wider audience.

Did I like this? Yes.
Will it win the nationals? Maybe.
Will it disturb the audience? Definitely.

This film is a mini masterpiece. I felt the world viscerally and almost physically at times. As though I could reach out and touch the grotesque creatures on screen.

At times during the film I entirely forgot I was watching a 48 hour entry such was the incredible artistry at work in Sweets. I have no idea how it was achieved in that time frame but I can't commend Tim highly enough.

Was it style over substance? Possibly a little. But with films like this I'm not really looking narrative satisfaction as much as I am a mood and feeling, which this delivers in spades.

Congratulations, Tim! As others have said, I wouldn't be surprised if this took ouit the competition.

This review will annoy people. But it needs to be said...

This was a terrible short film - It needs to be a feature!!!!

But in all seriousness, I think we've all come to expect the weird and wonderful when it comes to what Tim delivers to our eyeballs. And this years, our eyeballs were grabbed out of our skulls and made to pay attention. I won't waste your time gushing about the incredible world he's built, or the grotesque but loveable characters that populate it. I'll just say it is by far the 2024 film that will be remembered the longest.

The lightweight story was a bold choice and the only point that didn't win me over. The incredible world could easily host an epic story and I wanted more...

... just no more gooch;)

A strange film that comes from a filmmaker with a lot to show (literally). This film was uncomfortable, but warm and fuzzy at the same time. I'm not sure whether I would personally suffer through the discomfort (or ecstasy?) of obtaining sweets from the creatures that inhabit Tim's world, but it sure makes for a fun story. I always enjoy and appreciate Tim's ability to create otherwordly cinema in this competition and I'm never bored watching his work. Even though it's not pornographic, I probably wouldn't recommend watching with your parents.

It's easy to find yourself down a deep Disqualified Tim rabbit-hole of past work after watching this for the first time. Tim has solidified himself as not just someone who's film you look forward to, but a character in this whole festival. A meta-esque fourth wall breaking hero of the 48 Hour Cinematic Universe. Sweets isn't just genius, it's genitals - genitals for all.

Tim has balls, and now we've all seen them.

A truly revolting yet delightful film. or maybe delightfully revolting. both are true;-) Without this movie, I wouldn't have realized that "cute" and "grotesque" could coexist in the same sentence. However, isn't anyone going to address the proverbial elephant of the festival? In the week leading up to filming Tim shared Instagram stories of him making the film. Isn't this supposed to be a 48-hour film festival? 48 HOURS. We need to return to the festival's true spirit. Seeing his intro where he dismisses accusations of "cheating," and then knowing the film was worked on beforehand, is disheartening. Tim is undoubtedly a creative genius and a festival staple who inspires many. His immense talent is already an advantage over the rest of us, don't need to bend the rules. He’s likely not the only one doing this, so maybe it's a moot point.
Feel free to remove this post if its not a valuable part of the discourse!

Hey RainingBrit.
I trained custom software ahead of time but absolutely did not write, film, pre compose scenes, or edit.
Prep is acceptable in my view. It is common for an animator to pre rig a model for use in the 48 hours, but I didn’t do that either.

Thank you for the compliments otherwise.
Enjoy your sweets.

Excellent style. Very well done.