Canon DV Festival 2006 Media Student Category3 min read

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This is 3rd in a series of 4 reviews of the shortlisted films in the Canon DV Festival 2006. Read the previous reviews: Professional Category and Secondary School Category.

More fun than internet porn. And a whole lot healthier as well.

Big Boy Hao
Jolene Teng

Light-hearted and fun, this film, like the young male lead, is a charmer. The actors aren’t exactly that good but the filmmaker more than makes up for it with snappy direction and rather excellent editing. Think Home Alone in 8 minutes and you’ve basically got the plot in a nutshell. The energy that the music provides is contagious — and just about perfect.

Inseparable
Sabina Lim

The film didn’t play on the website, even though I kept trying for several days. Hm — how is anyone going to vote for a film if they can’t view it?

Fruitful
Erasmus William Ess, Fitriah Abdullah, Goh Zhong Ming, Lugmn Al-Hakim, Nurainni Md Baeke, Sam Ng

This film screams art-house. From the beautiful cinematography to the intense imagery, it’s a film that one would imagine the likes of Zhang Yimou would have directed as a student. Unfortunately, for all its beauty, it’s not a very easy film to watch. It constantly calls attention to its imagery and while the plot is simple, the fragmentary nature of the cuts of the film makes it feel like you’re watching four episodes of a series all at once. I ended up feeling like I was being pulled in many different directions at the same time. That said, it was a beautiful film and definitely one worth watching.

2913-J
Tamara Kisha

This film begins with a strangely accented and slightly overdramatic voice-over, which set the tone for the acting in the film. While the actors weren’t terrible, it felt like they were acting for the stage and that never translates into good movie acting. The premise, however, is interesting. The themes explored perhaps are deeper than the typical Singaporean film; at the same time, it isn’t bogged down by a heaviness that tends to be the case in most Singaporean films. And it certainly has the most kickass soundtrack of any of the films viewed so far. This could be the way that English-language Singaporean films should be directed.

Be With You
Leong Hon Wai
Another film that failed to stream properly online beyond the first half a second. How’s it going to get any votes? Perhaps an avalanche of concerned e-mails from the public would make Canon sit up, take notice and not have a walkover for this category?

Related articles: Review: Canon DV Festival 2006 Secondary School Category, Review: Canon DV Festival 2006 Professional Category, Canon DV Festival 2006 – open for voting

Packrat will be watching the shortlisted films in the last category and bringing us his viewing notes over the next three days. Watch and vote for your favourite short films in the Canon DV Festival 2006 by November 23, and you could win a Canon Powershot A430!

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