Blood Rule

I saw this at the Satisfied Eye International Film Festival in a block of short films called 'Ones to Watch' and no more is this true than with this film and its director. It's a simple story but a story that resonates deeply and it's executed flawlessly. From the opening frame to the closing shot you feel and experience every moment and it's a painful watch - and intentionally so. The film tackles a difficult and profound subject in an effortless way and it rightfully raises just as many questions as it answers. With a wonderful performance by the lead who is required to convey everything with body movement and a subtle facial gesture and a truly naturalistic ambience which adds to the drama, this is a perfectly executed short film.

However this is majorly let down by an utterly awful performance by Will Freeman. He completely hams every moment he is on screen and it's a shame because you can tell there is an attempt to make something ok. The writing is hokey in places but not sure if that's just the bad acting or what.

For a short film, it certainly had its head scratching moments which I don't want to spoil but there were multiple times where I felt like the drama was sucked out of it by very easy to fix problems. First and foremost though, fire that actor. I also saw him in a terrible feature a while back. Quit buddy, you got no talent.

Its a shame, could have been decent.