Éclat du jour

A group of pre-teens hang out together in the suburbs. Bored and with little to do, their own experimentation threatens to get them into trouble.

My one line plot summary is probably not very good for this short film, because it alludes to consequences of some form, and really there are none here apart from one very brief second that we see an adult in this piece. The film is very tightly focused on the children themselves, so as a result we are only with them and don't really see anything through the camera that is presented from an adult's point of view. As such we see the impassive faces of those looking on as a child is choked out just to see what happens; likewise in the scene of destruction we don't really have too much spin presented on it. I liked this approach - right through to the conclusion where a new day is just that, no real lessons learnt.

This is what I liked, however it must be said that the very cold detached air that it has also means that it feels like nothing is really happening, and it does seem like a lot of effort to simply show a child's point of view. Likewise the presentation feels heavy and a bit too arty for my taste, with long silent takes on things like a child looking along a mirror. That said, it is well filmed and I liked the close-ups and focus on the people rather than the action, even if it does seem to limit the short. For what it does well I liked it – it is quite free of adult experience and impassively does what it does in the way bored children do, however at the same time I don't think the weighty air of importance, and open-ended nature of the short really helped it as much as I guess was hoped.

At first sigh, a cold film. Close-ups, destruction of a house, references to "The Lord of Flies" or only the game as result of group fever. But many things defines it as special. The photography, the very short presence of adult, the faces of children, the manner to present the destruction , the boy beinng the witness and the voice of good reason, the end. It could be perceved as parable. Or, just as portrait of childhood. Both version works in fine manner. Short, a film of questions. Its message is real ppersonal.