Full Circle

Well, I certainly feel a bit ill at ease--after all, the other review for this short film is a person who is apparently a former film director and they thought this short was absolutely brilliant. However, I thought it was just mildly interesting--especially compared to all the other shorts I've viewed in the last few weeks. While I have always enjoyed shorts, I have recently watched a huge number and have really enjoyed most of them. While FULL CIRCLE is a pretty film and shows great competence, the film just didn't stand out among all the other films--even among Irish shorts I have seen. Now that doesn't mean the team making it did a bad job--they are obviously professionals and had a nice touch. But as for me, the film never really had a good payoff when all was said and done. Hopefully, they'll one day remake this one as a full-length film and not end it so abruptly, as the romantic in me wanted more.

As a (former) cinema director, I see thousands of films and after thirty years, I am somewhat jaded. However, just occasionally there comes a film that renews my faith in the cinema as the greatest cultural achievement of our species. Such a film, however small and relatively unambitious, is able to lift one from one's lethargy and walk proud to be, in the words of Andrew Sarris 'a humble artisan in the vineyard of the cinema'.

What is so special about this little gem is the TOTAL commitment to cinematic means to express the story and theme of the film. A simple love story is told almost wordlessly and using fabulous montages to convey complex inter-relationships.

I would not wish to spoil anything for anyone, so just SEE IT if you can.

I will be immensely surprised, and disappointed, if we do not hear (and see) a great deal more from Simon Fitzmaurice.