Sundays

It is something that I am not a fan of generally – short films being made as proof of concept; but it is something that Sundays has shown can be a great thing to do, and can pay off. This short film was funded by Kickstarter, took 5 years to complete and release, and just a few days ago was subject to a bidding war between various studios trying to get hold of the film to develop into a feature on the basis of this short. Knowing this, part of me does shudder because it probably means that we will be subjected to more and more special-effects shots which are padded out to be short films, but are really nothing of the sort. This is not to say that this is what Sundays is, but for sure it is important to know that narrative content is not really this films strongest point.

In the short we see Mexico City destroyed by solar activity; it is an opening that contains some striking and impressive images – not "for a short film", but just generally it is very well done and looks great. From here we join the lead character in a future struggling with its own fragility and yet tightly controlled and regulated. The lead character starts to question his understanding of what reality is following some experiences, and we join him on a very brief justification for this mindset. It doesn't offer answers, and it is rather disappointing in regard to the delivery of something that you can take away, but it is very good at drawing in the viewer and impressing with the technical side. I say this like it is not enough, but to be fair to the film, its aim was proof of concept and that is what it delivers, and it delivered it successfully as we see by the fact that it has been picked up.

I do wish it had been able to be more contained than it was, and deliver something on its own, as well as suggesting and offering much more; but I can forgive it because it is very impressive in its delivery, and it does offer an interesting sci-fi with themes of reality and human identity to be explored. How well it will do that as a narrative is very difficult to judge from this short film – because there is really very little narrative here to assess, so time will have to tell on that one. Will be interesting to look out for it in the future to see what they manage to do with such a promising and impressive base; and one can forgive the short film for what it doesn't do since it really never set out to be a complete product, and, as a proof of concept, it does put in more effort and detail than some I've seen, and it does draw the viewer in.

Boy. Some of the subtlest, shaky-cam, CGI I've ever seen. Utterly dreamlike and engrossing. Couldn't catch, by eye, the joins between stock footage, cinematography, and rotoscoping. Gloriously lo-fi soundtrack to match; hugely bold to drop it entirely for the last six minutes.

If Inception had taken proportionate risks, I'd be a Nolan fan for life: it would have bombed at the box office and lived on, a cult: Linux to Apple; cinema's Mozart to Hollywood's Salieri.

All credit to Rozema, Espevold, Bonelli, Mader, Portal, Noval, the innumerable host of VFX artists — and the even more numerous sponsors who took a punt with PostPanic. (I have no personal interest; I stumbled on this by way of a highly competent, but far less risky, rip-off of Blade Runner on YouTube — and took trouble to search the credits here.)

This may be the most compelling argument for crowd funding I've yet come across.

Don't you just hate it when a movie is so poorly conceived or developed that the director and/or producers feel that you're so stupid that you need to be spoon-fed an explanation by way of a voiceover?

"Sundays" is the exact opposite of that problem.

Exquisitely designed and filmed, with a refreshing cast you've probably never laid eyes on before, you're dropped into a warped reality with as much initial fear, then apathy, which tumbles endlessly into confusion and angst, and finally black despair as the main character Ben finds himself.

Haunting and mesmerising. Only to be missed if you prefer not to think for yourself.

A short Sci Fi reminding to me one of preocuppations from childhood about the thin border between surfaces and reality. More seductive than the special effects is the story itself. A simple story about predictable reality based on trust. An accident and the cold revelation of truth. And the naked reality, ambiguous, hidden, unrecognizible. All seems so simple. More than simple. But the revelation about emotions, regular program, status and happiness moments are just powerful. A man and his brocken world. And, sure, suggestive images.

So, a film about apparences. Less philosofical, less a Sci Fi. Only cloth of a question, defining in some moments, us.