The Long and Short of It

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.

It seems that Sean Astin wound up with some time on his hands while filming the Lord of the Rings, so he decided to make a film of his own. He enlisted Peter Jackson, Director of Lord of the Rings and some other cast and crew members. This is about 5 minutes in length and is a tale of cooperation and collaborative effort...symbiosis, essentially. When a workman has a problem hanging an advertisement, some people of differing sizes lend a hand (unbidden). The result is a properly done job and new friends for the workman. A creditable job by all. Peter Jackson took time out of his busy schedule to be the bus driver.

I heard that Sean was making a short film for the Two Towers DVD, and I was excited to see how it would turn out. And it was really good! It was cool that he used the three people of varying heights to accomplish the goal, and that he used Peter Jackson as the bus driver. That's awesome! The music on it was cool. And I also thought the fact that they didn't talk was cool too. Watch the making of "The Long and Short of It" on the DVD, too. It is really funny! I hope Sean makes some more short films, or maybe he'll be a director someday. Anyway, congratulations on your first film, Sean. Good luck in the future.

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.

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.