silvio-mitsubishi

Shorts can avoid the traditional story arc of beginning-middle-end, but this goes further still. Holidaymakers on a Greek island lose internet and telephone communications; the ferry does not arrive; perhaps a few people are falling ill - is this the end of everything we hold dear?

A couple, bored with their marriage, try to find a way to escape the island, but order is breaking down in a very genteel way, complicated by the range of languages encountered.

Perhaps a satire on how dependent we have become on technology and predictability, and how incapable of improvising. Sadly, the idea of nothing happening has been done better before.

IMDb shows this film as 1:53, but the version I saw was 40 minutes shorter. Given the padding and repetition in the version I saw, it should be less than an hour. During one conversation, friends tell Scarlett "If you want to sell (the cabin), we can help you clean it" three separate times.

Far too many lines of dialogue are re-used, often verbatim. Cult members chant a spell in a foreign language for far too long. The journey to the cabin takes far too long, yet two additional characters appear halfway through. Some characters play no meaningful part in the narrative.

The sound quality is poor; lighting is poor; script is poor. Plot is hackneyed. Cast members spoke their own lines as if they did not know (or care) what the previous speaker said.

That said, I suspect the cast and crew had fun making this piece, and hopefully learned something for next time. Enjoyment is a positive sign for future efforts.

What appears to be the first of a planned annual (Christmas) series; if they are all as good as this, we are in for a treat. A small cast, largely unknown, in a low-budget 47-minute gem, a worthy successor to the old BBC Ghost Story for Christmas tradition.

Four men take the body of a fifth for burial on a lonely road. Theatrical in style - perhaps the result of a workshop session - the script has some language that sounds anachronistic (but might well be period-literate) and is occasionally pedestrian, the plot is limited but exploited to the fullest extent, and the acting can feel a little forced, but you will forgive every fault as you are absorbed into this ghostly treat. There are hints of An Inspector Calls, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, as well as many other spooky tales, but enough originality and heart to stand alone.

Hollywood should do away with big stars and huge budgets, and learn something from the team that put this together. I will be waiting for the next in the series.