Blind Spot

The Short Of The Week website analysis states there's a danger of Matthew Nayman's short film being both one note and mediocre but Nayman manages to pull it off . I agree though there's no escaping from the fact it's very much one note and a one trick pony but while you're watching it you do wonder how quickly other people came to understand what was happening at the mis-en-scene

Some people might claim " if that was me I would have known what was happening right away " but would you ? Go on youtube and look at the live news broadcasts of 9/11 as the second plane crashed in to the South Tower of the WTC . It's surprising how many of the commentators don't notice the second plane come in to frame and hit the second tower and thought the resulting explosion was coming from the North Tower . On a similar you might have done a quick observation test where you're asked to study a still photo of busy city centre street . You're asked what you noticed about the still " Perhaps you noticed , the street lamps , or the cars in the foreground or the blonde woman walking nearest to camera . But did you notice the spaceship in the sky at the top right hand corner ? " and you're left kicking yourself for not noticing something so obvious , so yes the scenario here is very credible and well done for making it on a budget of $2,000 . That said anyone who's driving a car making a plane reservation on a mobile phone dserves summary execution

When I saw this film at the 2012 Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, it stood out from the crowd. Its a delightfully executed story of a guy stuck in traffic, having his own personal customer-service-from-Hell experience while on his cell phone. As the story progresses, his internal focus on his problems becomes increasingly humorous as the magnitude of events outside his car become evident.

The film begins without title or credits, which was an immense bonus for me since I did not know the title when I saw it. Given the final moments of the film -- which I will not reveal here -- putting the title at the end was a stroke of brilliance. I split a gut laughing: it was SO apropos.

Obviously, anyone reading this review DOES know the title of the film, but if by chance you are a festival organizer planning on showing this film, DO NOT reveal the title beforehand; it'll make the experience that much more fun. And for those of you who DO know the title but have yet to see the movie, don't worry: it'll still be a funny and entertaining ride.

Kudos to Brandon Brackenbury for a fine single-shot performance.