I won't pretend I'm a movie expert, so don't write this off as a bit of pretentiousness, because I'm just letting you know about a short film that I kind of love. It came out yesterday and I just happened upon it.
Well, that's a little bit of a lie- I'm a complete YouTube addict and have been for the past...4 maybe even 5 years? Anyway, I found Bertie Gilbert's channel and have enjoyed his vlogs for a while now, but recently he's made his main channel a platform for short films. I've never really gone for that sort of thing (I tend to feel a bit out of my depth artistically) but I took a chance on this and loved it!
It attracted me because it follows a similar theme of Benjamin Button- but it's not completely the same, except for maybe some great costume choices. The story is really what it says on the tin- a man who stopped ageing around the age of 16, which results in him claiming to be a 56 year old man. It attracts the attention of an actual 16 year old, who wants to study him for a project. She debates as to whether she believes him or not and you slowly find out more about his character.
It's less than 15 minutes long, but still has some twists and turns along the way- I feel this is the kind of thing YouTubers can really do well, seeing as a lot of them limit themselves to between 5-10 minute vlogs. I don't want to spoil it though- after all this is supposed to make you want to go and watch it.
I think the thing I love the most about it is the style of the film. Like I said before, I am no expert, but we've all got eyes so I think I can make some observations. The image quality is all very old fashioned, which I thought was a nice reflection of the main character (played by Bertie Gilbert, by the way) and also just really nice to look at- I prefer vintage-style filming generally, I think it just looks so cool. It ties in with the costumes that both characters, old and young wear and means that the film and just makes it work aesthetically. Also the music really suited the piece. I think music really can make or break a film and Bertie made some great choices when to just let music overrun dialogue- he captures moods in certain scenes that would be too jarring if explained through conversation.
The only tiny critique I have is the female lead- she's great in her physical presence in the film, but she seems a bit too blasé about the whole experience. Her voice doesn't reflect as well as I think it could- but I'm not an acting coach either. I enjoyed all of their performances and thought that the main character really was a bit of an old soul.
I'll stop there before I become completely wanker-y about things I have no authority over- but here's the trailer, the full film is on Bertie's channel as well:
Well, that's a little bit of a lie- I'm a complete YouTube addict and have been for the past...4 maybe even 5 years? Anyway, I found Bertie Gilbert's channel and have enjoyed his vlogs for a while now, but recently he's made his main channel a platform for short films. I've never really gone for that sort of thing (I tend to feel a bit out of my depth artistically) but I took a chance on this and loved it!
It attracted me because it follows a similar theme of Benjamin Button- but it's not completely the same, except for maybe some great costume choices. The story is really what it says on the tin- a man who stopped ageing around the age of 16, which results in him claiming to be a 56 year old man. It attracts the attention of an actual 16 year old, who wants to study him for a project. She debates as to whether she believes him or not and you slowly find out more about his character.
It's less than 15 minutes long, but still has some twists and turns along the way- I feel this is the kind of thing YouTubers can really do well, seeing as a lot of them limit themselves to between 5-10 minute vlogs. I don't want to spoil it though- after all this is supposed to make you want to go and watch it.
I think the thing I love the most about it is the style of the film. Like I said before, I am no expert, but we've all got eyes so I think I can make some observations. The image quality is all very old fashioned, which I thought was a nice reflection of the main character (played by Bertie Gilbert, by the way) and also just really nice to look at- I prefer vintage-style filming generally, I think it just looks so cool. It ties in with the costumes that both characters, old and young wear and means that the film and just makes it work aesthetically. Also the music really suited the piece. I think music really can make or break a film and Bertie made some great choices when to just let music overrun dialogue- he captures moods in certain scenes that would be too jarring if explained through conversation.
The only tiny critique I have is the female lead- she's great in her physical presence in the film, but she seems a bit too blasé about the whole experience. Her voice doesn't reflect as well as I think it could- but I'm not an acting coach either. I enjoyed all of their performances and thought that the main character really was a bit of an old soul.
I'll stop there before I become completely wanker-y about things I have no authority over- but here's the trailer, the full film is on Bertie's channel as well:
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