Do Geese See God?

Hmm...

I didn't have a clue what this film was about but the style was amazing. Normally that alone wouldn't be enough for me to rate a movie highly but for some reason I feel compelled to recommend this short on its style alone. It really is quite unique. I particularly loved the sound design - listen to how Underwood's movements are synchronised with the sounds of traffic in some shots. Also, the colour was great - all blues and greens and muted shades. Simple shots seem to have been somewhat re-juvinated and made ten times more interesting, for example when he looks at his watch; or when he picks up the payphone in the station and we get that Homicide-style jump cut/dialogue repetition.

Can't say I get the story in any way whatsoever, even after reading the plot summary, but I'd recommend it just for how it looks and sounds.

Interesting film but it leaves me unsatisfied.

I recognize the looping, undending nature of the film may be part of the commentary, but that doesn't make it any more enjoyable.

The fact that I had to watch it in a small window on my screen probably detracted from it as well. I'd rather have it be available in larger formats for those who wish to use up the bandwidth. But that's a separate issue.

How a film with so much pseudo-action and intensity made me bellow one of my favorite Homer-isms, "Bo-ring!" is beyond me. I guess that's what happens when you have a good production but a story that really goes nowhere.

Then again, maybe I'm just too dim for this film.

That said, I LOVE the fact that Amazon is following the "BMW Films" lead. Go Fallon!

When I saw this on Amazon I believed their bit about an alternate ending. However, now I now realize that this movie's point is to slow us down in our daily lives and that the alternate ending is just a witty way to make people to take a break from their schedule. Like the title, which is the same when spelled backwards, this movie is just a play on images. I thought it was done wonderfully, and quite honestly I loved the camera work and the music. The only real fault I had was that the idea that a movie had to repeat itself just to slow us down was rather insulting to me, but I realized it needed to be done and served its purpose.

Another unique idea that I thought was presented very well was just the urgency all of us feel is required in life. By using cartoon characters the film showed how from when we are just a little kid we begin to hurry through life. Dr. Awkward, the main character, represented the American dream with his nice clothes and TV, yet that did not mean he had everything he wanted. That is why Karma is so central to the film, because time well spent is, at least according to the film, maybe fleeting but more essential than most of the time spent in one's life.

This film was about nothing at all and yet everything at the same time. This is why, after viewing this film the austerity of it all lingers with us, much like the scent of a freshly picked rose.

The film is a metaphor for "the rat race." Get it? That's why the rat imagery appears throughout the film. All over the film. The film is a rant against the rat race. The lesson, therefore, is the more obvious "hey, we need to stop and 'smell the roses.'" I found the film enjoyable, and I accepted the recurring scenes as they were intended: without them, you'd have no film. So I simply didn't let the repetition get to me. I looked for inconsistencies in the images as I watched them again and again; that is, I looked for changes during the recurring events. (No, I didn't see any.) But, again, the rat race metaphor is really very clever, and I didn't understand the rat metaphor (assuming I'm correct) until the film started its second cycle. I did not find the "product placements" to be intrusive -- which I'm sure is what the film makers intended.

What a fantastic short!

I would not have picked up on Dr. Awkward being a palindrome without the help of other reviewers, so I wanted to add some thoughts to the theme as well. Did anybody notice that the shoulder bag strap that the human/rat wears is labeled with the infinity sign? That's when it occurred to me that the character isn't being referred to box 181, it's a call to return the character to the same struggle, over and over again, for infinity - the infinity sign is in between two parallel lines on the box key.

Same DVD, same run, same message, and this snatch of time starts over again.

What I enjoy about the theme is that the cycle continues only as long as the character lets it continue.

There's some really interesting post-modern theology in this short: humanity's view of God, of time, of the "important" things in life.