The Black Hole

Short films almost always carry some kind of moral. Usually short films pose a simple but rather important question and answer it. Even if it's a tiny cartoon, it almost always has a theory of common sense.

In this case, such rhetoric works one hundred percent. Choosing between the temptation of evil and the complexity of good, a tired office worker chooses a more convenient one after a working day. With the help of a sheet of paper printed from a printer with a magic black hole, he gets himself a "Snickers" from a vending machine with food and drinks, and then the requests become serious, which turns into a fatal outcome.

In three minutes, Philip Sansom and Ollie Williams showed the perniciousness of greed simply and because of this gracefully. It is not necessary to make whole films or TV series about this, because it is enough to draw a fairly clear metaphor and accurately reflect its consequences.

Watching this short film will not take much time, so I advise you to open this video on YouTube to think about the question: "Do you let your greed or not?"

'The Black Hole (2008)' looks like a mid-2000s advertisement for a chocolate bar, the sort of thing in which an unhappy office worker is given a specific brand of chocolate and his world goes from black-and-white to technicolour, as it were. In fact, this would've been a perfect ad for 'Snickers' if it finished a little earlier and had a "get some nuts!" tag at the end. Aesthetic aside, this is a really concise and confident short film about a man who discovers that the office printer may in fact not be of this world when it prints a magic black hole capable of bypassing any surface it is pressed up against. The thing is an example of the perils of greed, with an appropriately dark ending and a (subtly) satirically comical tone. It's an entertaining and intriguing experience that makes the most of its premise and doesn't outstay its welcome. 7/10.

Silently and in three minutes this little short film delivers a single punch-line that is an end to the tale and it does it is a very enjoyable way. An office worker is busy doing pointless photocopying late at night and is clearly tired and fed up with the whole affair. When the copier produces a piece of paper with a black circle on it he finds that it somehow creates a void in any object he puts it against. So taking a chocolate bar out of the vending machine by creating a void in the glass is a given, but it takes mere seconds for his ambitions to be greater.

A simple morality tale this one but well delivered as a contained idea – get in, get out and satisfy the audience with the slightest of offerings. There is no dialogue here but it still works because the idea is simple and delivered well. I laughed at the end, although it did have a certain dramatic edge to it as well. A very simple short film but the idea is quickly developed and delivered which made it surprisingly satisfying and punchy.

While working after hours copying documents, the bored clerk kicks and punches the buttons of the photocopy machine when it jams. The photocopier releases a piece of paper with a black circle in the center, and when the clerk puts his cup of coffee on the spot, he discovers that it is indeed a black hole. The clerk uses the black hole to get a chocolate bar from a vending machine. Then the greedy employee decides to use the black hole to open the door of a room with a safe and steal the money from inside. However, he does not reach the wads of notes on the bottom and enters in the safe to take all the money out with tragic consequences.

"The Black Hole" is a short and deep tale of greed of human nature. It is impressive how the writers and directors Philip Sansom and Olly Williams were able to make a short of less than 3 minutes running time without any line and succeed in transmitting one of the seven deadly sins ( "Avaritia") so perfectly and with right dose of humor. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

A man, using a copying machine, is presented with a large sheet of paper with a big, black spot on it. It turns out it is a transportable hole. One can place it on a wall and be able to reach through it. The potential is amazing, but we are greedy creatures, and sometimes we don't think before we act.