Dad's Dead

Another outstanding film from Bermuda Film Festival. Like the winner of Best Short - WASP. This film earned a honourable mention for it's powerful insight into what happens inside the mind of a sociopath. It was the most original and different film I think I've seen. Blending imagination with reality in a way I've never seen. It was like mixing fine art painting with a hard urban story. Saying that the technique didn't compromise the punk street feel of the film.

Johnno controls his best friend. Making him do things you just DONT do. We watch as the lies and cheats. Abusing an old man, shattering all of the boys hopes and dreams in the process. I found myself thinking about the film for days. Do people like this exist? If so, what are they up to? And why does society not deal with them? This one also hit the audience hard because of it's brutal ending and no doubt left them feeling at unease with the world.

One o disturbing films about changes o a young man, from childhood defined by shows and jokes to a terrible cruelty after a presumed lie.

A film about the monster from us, hidden, sleeping, free after the last link is broken because the death of father has new nuances at the end of film, with sparkles of fury and forms of revenge, behind a presumed terrible truth.

Short, admirable crafted and, scene by scene, just impressive.

One of films proposing a bucket of questions, pretending fair introspectation.

A story just working in impecable way and the voice of Ian Hart as perfect guide in this tunnel of hell. The conclusion remains profound personal for every viewer.

Saw Dad's Dead on Channel 4's Outside season and thought it was amazing. I've never seen a film which conveys what it's like to be a teenager so well. Ian Hart's troubled narrator really struck a chord with me. His character is attacked and forced to do terrible things against his will by a bully called Johnno. It was like my school days all over again. It gave me the creeps. Scary stuff! I've never seen a film quite like it before. Hope Channel 4 repeat it!

Reminded me very strongly of the worst aspect of childhood when I grew up in north London. Whatever school/whatever I found myself in I always found characters similar to Johnno-not as extreme-but that heart of mischevousness which could flip very quickly to viciousness.

I guess I am not alone in this. The film plays out a tale that is compusive viewing, though doubtlessly twisted.

The dialogue is deadpan and the animation pulls you in with its urban icons bluring in and around the characters.

Worth watching - others have panned this as too grim, but I am certain that you will know a real life johnno. More interesting are those that will recognise themselves in johnno...

Our narrator looks fondly back at his childhood in Liverpool and the antics of his best friend Johnno. Well known for being a showman and a keen one for joking and the like, Johnno starts to change for the worse after he announced that his father has died.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film. I had seen it was an animation on the website and had assumed it would be an arty thing made by a newly graduated student - don't know why I assumed that, but I did. Happily this film was much better than that and when it finished it was very powerful despite the odd flaw. The plot is disturbing with the speed with which things go from childhood memory to something much darker. The reasons for the change are layered into the fabric well and only the end is a little unclear.

The animation is well used and very clever. A lot of the film is real action with animation used effectively at different points - in it's own right or to animate the digitally shot action. In some cases this is funny, in others it lets us see the monster inside each character and in others it is surprisingly violent and indicative of a mind that is being lost and surrounded by evil thoughts. I'm not a big animation fan but it worked very well here.

I struggled to place the voice the whole way through and was surprised to see it was Ian Hart. However he does really well with the voice over and really brought his character to life. The support cast are good and the lad who played Johnno really did a good job to bring the menace out of him.

Overall this took me by surprise. It is well written so as to allow the plot to build quickly and with force and was very cleverly directed. The animation is a mix of styles and is very cleverly used to portray different things - from a Betty Boop style vision on an ice-cream van to a `Peter and Jane' book to illustrate nice thoughts. The combination of all these things make it well worth a look.