The Long and Short of It

It was a typical weekend in Wellington, New Zealand when Sean Astin borrowed a camera or two from the "Lord of the Rings" set to shoot a short film he had written.

This is hardly on the scale of "The Lord of the Rings" - especially when one considers that it was made with some materials borrowed from the epic for one afternoon. Nevertheless, it is a very nice short film that is well worth five minutes of anyone's time.

I found the making of documentary to be quite humorous, with Andy Serkis describing his plot - even more insidiously evil than Gollum's plan to steal the One Ring - to rise through the ranks of the production crew :).

I would give this film four out of five, with the fifth star always being reserved for the films that are unspeakably wondrous, so there's no shame in not getting it, especially as small a picture as this.

This is a wonderful little short about cooperation. The direction is great. Sean took a very simple approach, not a lot of angles, just letting the simple story and setting come out. It seems like it was done simply as a fun diversion while filming the epic Lord of the Rings, and illustrating on a small level what all those involved learned. Watch for Peter Jackson's cameo. And be sure to read the credits. Some are just plain funny! All in all, a fun short film, that proves that Sean Astin has the instinct to become a great director, if he wants to.

This is a sweet, compact little film about the way total strangers can impact on each other's lives. Coming in at about four minutes and choreographed to the aria "Che Gelida Manina", it involves a simple but heartfelt story, a touch of humor, and puts forth the notion that everyone can have a role to play in the world -- all they have to do is look for the opportunity. I look forward to more work from Sean behind as well as in front of the camera. LOTR fans will recognize many of the faces here, and for those who have the Two Towers DVD, watch the 'making of' featurette on the short -- it is a riot!

I hope this little film met the criteria for inclusion in the Oscar race -- I would be delighted to cheer this to a win in the spring.

This is a wonderful short by immerging filmmaker Sean Astin. Made on their days off while shooting Lord of the Rings in New Zealand it makes use of the lesser seen crew members in a gentle and simple story about a man in a spot of bother who is helped by some passersby. I absolutely love the idea that Elijah Wood is First Assistant Director and Andy Serkis is Assistant Location Manager.

To me this is really about the spirit of Peter Jackson's trilogy and the bonds that were formed. It's just a really sweet and endearing little film with some astonishly big names attached to it.

When I saw The long and short of it I was feeling a little bit down but after the screening I felt A lot better. It's this kind of story that gives you A warm feeling inside, and we all can use some more of this. The story itself is simple, and the moral after it is good. It shows that if we all work together we can achieve almost everything. I hope to see more of this kind of movie's.