A Sister 7/10 The shortest of all the live action shorts, “A Sister” excels over the rest in terms of building tension. After a minute of confusion, we finally grasp the situation at hand and are thrust to the edge of our seats. The acting communicates the danger going on and I enjoyed that we got both ends of the short film’s phone call. My only big complaint is that the end is pretty anti-climactic and could have been slightly expanded.
#CallTales
Brotherhood 5.5/10 The longest of the live actions shorts at 25 minutes, “Brotherhood” does overstay its welcome and drag in places, taking away from the “short” description that it was given. The cinematography and tone are wonderful and we don’t know what will unfold next but the ending was rather abrupt and I wish we would have gotten there sooner. The film spends too much time on non-important aspects when it could have been spent elsewhere. Well acted but overall mediocre.
#DivineSecretsOfTheShahShahBrotherhood
The Neighbors’ Window 5.5/10 The only short film in the English language, “The Neighbors’ Window” looks great and succeeds in tackling a wide range of emotions from comedy to sorrow. However, our lead characters are rather annoying and grating and the comedy sometimes falls flat. There are passages of time that happen abruptly and we never know how much time has passed. The film is rather chaotic but I enjoyed the story and how it was inspired by a true one.
#NearWindow
Saria 4.5/10 A tragic true story about a fire in an orphanage, “Saria” feels like it took that devastating yet simple story and then made the rest up by filling in gaps, which felt inauthentic. I did enjoy that they filmed this with real orphans and it has some touching character moments but the film doesn’t have too much to say and it starts off by showing a couple of quick clips from later in the short film which was very strange.
#OrphanBrown
Nefta Football Club 7/10 It is really hard to decide between “A Sister” or “Nefta Football Club” as the best one of these short films. This one has the funniest moment of all the short films (involving Adele) and an ironically adorable ending. The journey to the ending drags a little bit but this has the best ending of all the shorts. Not the most original idea but well executed and enjoyable overall.
#DonkeySongCountry
Top Pun Reviews 