★★★ Directed by #MinosNikolakakis Written by #JohnDeHolland #MinosNikolakakis Starring #PrometheusAleifer #AnastasiaRafaellaKonidi Film Review by Hope Madden Aah, the woods. It is almost overwhelming in its defiance of civilization, its sheer magnitude of just plain nature. Shakespeare set his magic there, but a lot of horror filmmakers lean closer to Lars Von Trier’s proclamation: Nature is Satan’s church. Making his feature debut as both director and co-writer, Minos Nikolakakis conjures a spooky fairy tale that makes much ado about nature. Panos (Prometheus Aleifer), a city doctor looking for a simpler, more isolated existence, moves to a remote Greek village to become the town’s only (and apparently first) doctor. Winding through wooded, mountainous roads on his way to his new home he nearly runs down a lovely young woman, who promptly disappears back into the woods. Once in the village, Panos discovers tight-lipped locals, superstition and boredom—all of which leads him on a quest to figure out who that girl in the woods might be. It’s to Nikolakakis’s credit as a visual storyteller that so many familiar elements still work to cast a spell. The film explains very little. It sprinkles clues about, but relies on your familiarity with the way folk tales work to lead you into an unusual take on the genre. There’s nothing overstated or campy about Nikolakakis’s fairy tale trappings. Aleifer’s understated charisma—his penetrating stare, his abiding sadness—creates a strong center for the story. A melancholy mixture of logic and longing, his bearing articulates the dizzying, frustrating mixture of emotions and circumstances that trap Panos. Anastasia Rafaella Konidi’s earthy version of the succubus intrigues consistently. She vacillates between demanding and imploring, but never feels genuinely sinister. And we’re never entirely sure whether the doctor sees his plight in the woods as a dream or a nightmare, and that shifting reality generates dizzying dread. The film’s weakest element is the presence of co-writer John De Holland in the role of Panos’s protective half-brother, George. The performance is shaky enough that the first act suffers badly—the first impression is of a movie not worth your time. Luckily De Holland has considerably less screen time through the remainder of the film. Still, when George does appear intermittently he punctures the spell Nikolakakis and the remainder of the cast has conjured and it takes a while to recreate the mood. The way the story resolves itself is a puzzle, and not an especially satisfying one. With Entwined, Nikolakakis boasts some impressive storytelling instincts, but there’s still room for growth. #HopeMadden

★★★★ Directed by: #AkashSunethkumara Written by: #AkashSunethkumara Starring: #RomaneDananjani, #AkashSunethkumara, #DilshanFonseka Film Review by Lucy Clarke Two men (Akash Sunethkumara and Dilshan Fonseka) sit at a café table, playing chess. This hobby seems rather innocuous, just a regular meeting between friends. But underneath the surface, this isn’t a casual game. In their shared imagination, the two men fight over who will approach the pretty stranger (Romane Dananjani) who just entered the café. Director Akash Sunethkumara’s The Knight Out, which is self-styled as an action musical, is a dynamic, well-produced action film. While the music beats as the two men fight it out, it becomes apparent that this is a film filled with lashings of imagination. What starts out as a challenge quickly becomes a battle between yin and yang. Instead of chess, the two men fight, with fists and swords. Each move is intercut with shots of them in the café, contemplating where to place their pieces next. The editing is snappy and quick, and the shots between the real and the imagined worlds create an intriguing concept. The action shares similarities to Edgar Wright’s action scenes in Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. The editing in The Knight Out is lightning quick, and the combination of the editing and the smoothly choreographed fight scenes even give the impression that motion lines have been added to emphasise the action. Even though neither of the friends places themselves into mortal danger, the battle is still rewarding and intense. This is an action film, but it is also labelled as a musical. While the music elevates the film into a gripping action set-piece, and the throbbing bass creates a sense of rippling tension, the best track is during the credits. Despite its genre, the music isn’t the most impressive thing in this film. Instead, it is the imaginative scenario, which blurs together fantasy, reality and wishful thinking. As the men fight, their feet touch the black and white boxes of their chessboard. While they strategise to win their game of chess, they also aim to claim victory via a physical fight. By adding in these two worlds, Sunethkumara has created an action film that refuses to feel stale. The Knight Out ripples with dynamism and imagination. Sunethkumara has succeeded in not only creating a unique film, but the action is absorbing and engaging. As a result, this film doesn’t feel out of place in a world filled with Marvel and blockbusters. Fun, tense and exciting – The Knight Out claims the title of champion.

★★★★★ Directed by: #DanielGreaves, #RuthBeni Written by: #DanielGreaves, #RuthBeni Animated by: #AndyMcPherson, #DarrenVandenburg, #ThierryTorres, #DeniseDean, #JessicaLeslau Film Review by: Darren Tilby None of us is born racist; none of us is born homophobic; none of us is born misogynistic. So just where do these prejudices and intolerances, seemingly so rife in the world today, come from? Well, like anything, it's learned behaviour. A behaviour we, as children, observe from our elders, or authority figures validate that. And both are points well made in Daniel Greaves and Ruth Beni's superb short animated film, All of Us. At only seven minutes in length, All of Us is an incisive piece of work: a cautionary tale of one society's intolerances tearing it apart, leaving it fractured and divided. But it seems that the children are the only ones suffering from the adult's lack of tolerance (as is so often the case), and so they formulate a plan to make theirs a better world to live. Sound familiar? It should. All of Us is a sobering indictment of current affairs. Its underlying themes of prejudice and intolerance draw parallels to issues like Brexit, the BLM protests and the rise of right-wing, insular politics around the world. At the same time, the depictions of young people spearheading the fight for change; to right the wrongs of their elders draws immediate comparisons to the struggles of young people today, whether it be the climate change protests fronted by Swedish student Greta Thunberg, or the tearing down of slave trader statues around the world. The movie's entirely devoid of dialogue, yet it speaks volumes about the state of our world. Greaves' marvellous, simple-yet-effective animation style – part painting, part crayon drawing – puts us right in the kids' shoes. The animation itself is exquisite, smooth, and, perhaps most importantly, unique. It adds depth of character to a piece already brimming with personality, and, along with Jamie Payne's superb score, it makes for some hugely impactful filmmaking. All of us is a beautiful piece of work that says more about current affairs with its voiceless animation than even the most eloquently written monologue ever could. We should all watch this movie, and we should all take heed of its message. Find it on YouTube now! A special shoutout goes to the animation team for their breathtaking work...you rule!

★★ Written and Directed by #OctavianRepede Starring #OctavianRepede Film review by Amber Jackson Written and directed by Romanian film-maker Octavian Repede, The Astronaut of God aims to combine ideas on sky and space with ideas surrounding God and The Divine. Astronaut William goes into space on spacecraft GENESIS 1491 to discover more and what he is confronted with is interesting to consider, but is mostly confusing. Whilst the hour-long film deliberates on some interesting facts and theories on space, the delivery was poor and often unclear. The film itself felt futuristic, especially because it showed archive space footage from the offset. Probably the best viewing aspect was the high-quality editing of this black and white footage amongst William’s scenes. Scenes were coloured in shades of blue which created a unique mood in terms of William’s perception of space. The shaky camerawork also created some atmosphere to the story and ultimately contrasted with the stable shots of the historical clips. However, what was not apparent was that the film was actually set in 1962 in the crucial decade of the space race and the upcoming moon landing. In hindsight, this is a great context to base a film in, especially with contemporary forward-thinking ideas surrounding space development and the scientific knowledge that we have now. Unfortunately, because the setting was not clear, this was missed. Events that take place throughout the film do not make much sense. What exaggerates this is the narration and vocalisation throughout, as they take away from the words of the story. The robot-like narration that is used is de-humanising and takes away from the personal aspect of William’s story. Lacking in emotion, the ‘dialogue’ is repetitive, ineffective and disengaging and the audience cannot empathise with William at all. It is a shame because Repede’s film has good artistic license, but the intention and message of the film gets lost because of the delivery. Repede has created a strange and surreal film and it certainly has good merits. The use of minimal sound in some parts is chilling and contrasts with louder creepy moments such as the revelation of an alien entity in the latter half of the film. Ideas surrounding hallucination versus reality are embedded within the context of outer space knowledge and this was well-researched. Yet, most of the story does seem to be far-fetched, as it becomes clear that William most-likely would have died in space. At the end of the film it is not clear if William has given up on his beliefs surrounding there being a God in space. Clarification on this would have rounded off the film nicely and given the audience a clearer idea of what to feel towards him. With a larger budget and greater cast capacity, this storyline has the potential to be an excellent film. Its ideas on logic and divinity in space are a great starting point for critics to debate over, both in the film and science world. Suffice to say, The Astronaut of God has a great concept, but is unfortunately poorly delivered. #AmberJackson

★★★★ Stars Directed by: #LeifJohnson Written by: #LeifJohnson Starring: #LisaRonaghan, #FrancescaReid, #WillClempner, #LeoMates, #JamNorman Film Review by: Alicia Moore Satisfaction is a short comedy film set in the English countryside in 1791. The story focuses upon two men named Joshua Crampton (Will Clempner) and Thomas Arnold (Leo Mates.) The two met each other’s gaze on rough terms, resulting in a duel being scheduled to take place between them. However, Crampton’s sister, Emma Crampton (Francesca Reid,) and Arnold’s betrothed, Victoria Wycombe (Lisa Ronaghan,) are extremely excited for said duel… hoping that, together, they can eventually escape this gentleman’s game in more ways than one. A film is comprised of many elements but it cannot successfully secure the attention of audience members without a striking script; Leif Johnson’s writing has gained all attention with colourful delight! Great dialogue, witty and rememberable remarks made by each character, a perfect blend between the modern approaches to life and speech of today as well as the more harsh atmosphere of the unbalanced society in the 1700s. This short film made me smile extremely wide and laugh with my whole body because of its dazzling comedic writing which was, of course, a wonderful experience to have in the midst of the world slightly crumbling around us right now. The director of photography, Howard Mills, shows high-ranking levels of talent as the cinematography is completely captivating from start to finish. The fact that the cinematography shots matched with the comedic environment the short has created also impressed me greatly – both aspects fit like puzzle pieces, braiding together with really no faults in each strand. The editing, by Pieter Westerhof, is another facet of this short film that should be highly praised. It carries a sophisticated yet playful style, once again interlacing the atmosphere of the plot’s setting and the paired comedy. The editing is the last remaining puzzle piece here, finishing off the film to present a polished and attractive final product. The range of acting positions seen throughout is outstanding overall. All cast members have a natural approach in front of the camera and appear comfortable within the characters they play, creating an upbeat ambience — even when characters are pointing loaded pistols at each other. The enthusiasm and energy each scene is packed with makes this short even better; the cast beautifully enhances the writing with their beaming abilities. Satisfaction gives its audience a story that is tremendously conveyed, intertwining many intriguing plot segments through its duration. It is a short film filled with nothing but joy, laughter and amazing filmmaking skill; it may be one of my favourites that I’ve seen so far this year. Thank you to the cast and crew for bringing me a burst of pure happiness in this dull 2020.

★★★★★ Directed by: #Trish Sie Written by: #Sarah Rothschild Starring: #Sadie Stanley #Maxwell Simkins #Cree Cicchino #Lucas Jaye #Malin Åkerman and #Ken Marino Film Review by: #Andrew Stooke The Sleepover is like the quick cycle on a washing machine. The movie skips through a programme of many genre elements; the last big heist, a secret past life, and a grade-school bildungsroman washed in Jumanji, with Spy Kids as the fabric softener. Impetuous, the action launches before the titles tumbling with mischievous energy. We meet Maxwell Simkins as confident and theatrical Kevin spinning a yarn to his class about his family's life on Mars. He can’t imagine the half of it! Down the hall, his sister Clancy, Sadie Stanley, flirts gawkishly with a school senior who invites her to his party that evening, initiating a chain of events where their parents are in big trouble, and kids must puzzle things out for themselves. The family is quirky and affable joined by two of the children's friends. One is sleeping-over—but there is no time for sleep. Before normality even settles, they are shaken up by crazy circumstances. Multiple stories intertwine. They are balletically edited together with a time-bomb dynamic, cutting between moments of tension and gentle humour, slapstick and despair. The drama, of secret weapon stores, crown jewels, flash cars, poisoning, life-jackets, and several people tied to chairs, is compressed between school pick-up and breakfast the following morning. Amid the tumult, Kevin asks, 'This is what mom does when we're asleep?' Malin Åkerman is affectingly convincing in her transformation, from a mumsy no-nonsense teaching assistant, who will not even let her daughter have a smartphone, to a reborn international super-criminal. Despite kick-ass moves and a bad-ass attitude, she doesn't entirely present the contemporary female assassin's habitual body type. She maintains the doughy empathy of someone led astray. Husband Ron hasn't a clue what is going on. He is overwhelmed by a flood of changes that he needs to assimilate. He plays his part like a child, seeking attention and showing off. The device is a masterly complement to young characters, who are, on the whole, composed and fearless—with the exception of Kevin's sleepover buddy Lewis. Lucas Jaye provides an impressively restrained performance. He is kind-hearted and ultra-cautious, a foil to Clancy and Kevin's gung-ho bravura. Lewis comes complete with a laminated lanyard detailing food allergies and anti-bed-wetting underwear with an electronic sensor. The lead family are never entirely straight, therefore, it is Lewis, the titular Sleepover, who is most profoundly changed by the night's events. From beginning to end, the pandemonium is modulated through a sequence of doorways, portals leading to new discoveries. At the start of the movie, Clancy's initiation to dating occurs with her head bashing on her locker door. Other doors are various, of cars, locked, fortuitously left open, needing secret keys and combinations, and to be hidden behind. After the hectic night, the family are last glimpsed gently shutting their front door. The closure suggests that they can integrate the mayhem—with the grime of the past rinsed away, everyone can see each other and themselves in a new light.

★★★ Written and Directed by: #ViktorJonsson Starring: #EleanoreKnox and #MiaSfara Short film review by: Brian Penn You want fame, well right here's where you start paying...in sweat!....ah it makes you want to slip on a pair of leggings and dance on the bonnet of a taxi. But we're not talking about the Alan Parker directed classic from 1980; nor thankfully the hideous TV spin-off that spawned the kids from fame. But this particular take on fame is an entirely different affair from the frothy alternatives to which we’ve become accustomed. A seven minute film examines the subject as a more abstract concept, and from the opening frames is a challenging experience for the viewer. Grab the nearest dictionary and fame will be defined along the following lines; the state of public notoriety due to a level of achievement in life. Something reasonably straight forward that is instantly relatable. However, the film provides no dialogue to assist the narrative and we are left with a series of sharply cut images that offer little in the way of reasonable explanation. The spotlight falls on a solitary young woman (Eleanore Knox) who is preparing for a performance of some description. The lights go up with an expectant audience in tow. Then a complex dance begins with flashback to the nervous and edgy prelude; deep contemplation of the trials ahead and then back into the battle for acceptance and recognition. Whilst it’s incredibly well shot with a keen eye for physical drama, it becomes a curiosity for essentially the wrong reasons. The audience is not engaged by the narrative but the need to work out exactly what’s going on. There are elements of mime and improvisation in a piece that veers from fantasy to reality via the sub-conscious state. But after six minutes of the stick a carrot arrives in the final scenes. It’s a pleasing finale to an annoyingly long preamble. It might sound harsh, but for a short film we expect the premise to arrive much sooner. The reward is there, you just have to wait for it.

★★★★ Directed by: Ricardo Perez-Selsky Written by: Chase Hinton Starring: Chase Hinton, Johanna Sol, Eric Roberts Film Review by: Jason Knight Technology has come a long way. Today, no matter how far they are from each other, people can communicate with ease thanks to the invention of the internet and mobile phones. They can meet new people online and sometimes they end up meeting the love of their life. Ian (Hinton) is an artist living in Los Angeles. He is struggling to find the right woman and constantly looks at online dating sites. Then he comes across the profile of Sofia (Sol) and contacts her. The two communicate via internet and phone and get along well, revealing details about their personal life to each other. It becomes apparent that they would make a good couple. Unfortunately they are unable to meet because Sofia is in Mexico City, supporting her mother who has cancer. Due to further complications, Sofia ends up staying much longer. When will they meet? Face-to-face that is. Will their relationship work out? IRL is a romantic drama that focuses on how individuals can develop relationships thanks to the use of modern technology. It's plot has similarities to Her (2013), in which a man falls in love with an artificial intelligence program. In both films the hero is constantly communicating with someone they do not see. IRL contains many scenes where Ian is having long conversations with Sofia. Technically he is by himself, but he actually is not, as he is getting to know another person, with his devices. The film does point out that technology brings people together. What is mostly seen in this movie is Hinton, as he is almost always on screen. There are many long takes of him as he is socialising with Sofia with the camera focusing on his face. He comes across as a well-meaning man, who wants to make things better for himself. Robert's appearance is brief, but he delivers a strong performance as Ian's no-good father. Credit should also go to Sol, whose voice acting manages to give the impression that she is a kind, caring individual. As technology plays a key role in this story, there are many closeups of information on computer monitors and mobile phones. Viewers will also get to see plenty of closeups of Hinton's mostly smiling face. Editor Tayler Braasch also uses the split screen technique to great effect. The film also benefits by Jakob Freudendahl's beautiful, dramatic score. IRL is pretty much a reflection of today's world. A world that communicates through electronic devices, which many people can identify with. It has a plot that the audience will want to follow and great character development. #JasonKnight

★ Directed by: #DonSwanson Written by: Don Swanson Starring: #AvaPsoras, #AlexaMechling, #BetsyLynnGeorge Indie Film Review by: Corey Bulloch A feature-length continuation his 2019 short film Occurrence at Mills Creek with a returning cast and crew, Don Swanson, unfortunately, displays how bigger doesn’t always equal better. Dull and lacking urgency throughout, this story of a young woman’s grief after a series of family tragedies manifesting itself through supernatural visions around a family curse is a toothless psychological horror. With these tough themes such as death, depression and attempted suicide at the forefront of Clara’s narrative, the majority of the film feels disconnected from any potential impactful drama. Sleepwalking its way through every element, Swanson’s vision doesn’t offer audiences much in terms of intrigue or entertainment. The few moments where Occurrence at Mills Creek can capture attention is when the music does the storytelling. With an original score from Mark D’Errico and songs by Mia Z, these brief sequences where Clara’s emotional journey takes on a new perspective; her isolation, her vulnerability breaks through from the tedium of the dialogue. Walking down the aisle at her sister’s funeral, being watched and judged or reconnecting with the spirit of her mother while at a night club actually creates engaging visual storytelling. These scenes however also show how glaring the muddled presentation of the characters, storylines and themes are, and how much of the plotline feels unnecessarily convoluted. The family curse and horror elements of the film are shoehorned in, barely developed and it turns the whole film into a nonsensical mirage that you lose all interest with, taking away any reality to these character’s drama. Tired clichés and cheap gimmicks in place of anything substantial leave Occurrence at Mills Creek’s characters and the story pretty forgettable to the audience. What isn’t forgettable however is the atrocious sound design; the sound mix for the dialogue is full of echo, background noise, it’s scratchy and noticeably distracting in just about every scene. The sequences with the professionally recorded music are presented fine but nearly every scene with dialogue suffers from this. This failure never sorts itself out, with a lot of the final product feeling like it went through many desperate attempts to ‘fix it in post’ to no avail, becoming a constant grate on the audience’s senses. Occurrence at Mills Creek doesn’t fail because of its low budget or bad script, it's all subjective and opinions continuously change over time but a bad sound mix breaks that tether with the audience. You cannot become invested in this film’s reality when the film is constantly breaking it. Swanson wears many caps in this production as director, writer, cinematographer, editor among others and unfortunately does not succeed with most of them. Noticeable faults in the practical execution along with the narrative and performances have the film in shambles, nothing for the audience to latch onto and empathises with. Occurrence at Mills Creek mangles its drama of grief and surviving for tacky horror, baffling exposition and lifeless pacing, nothing but an unsatisfactory story let down even more by its poorer execution. Trailer: #CoreyBulloch #Indiefilm

★★★ Directed by: Gus Holwerda Written by: Gus Holwerda Starring: Jason Spisak, Leeann Dearing, Abe Ruthless, Jose Rosete, James Morrison Film Review by: Jason Knight Wouldn't it be great to travel through time? Who knows what humanity could achieve with that ability. It would be fantastic! Or would it be catastrophic? Intersect is a science fiction, thriller that involves three young scientists who have managed to create a time machine, but things don't go according to plan. Ryan (Spisak), the main character, is a scientist at Miskatonic University and along with fellow scientists Nate (Ruthless) and Caitlin (Dearing), has managed to find a way to make time-travelling possible. But their success brings great danger, as it has also brought evil entities into their world. The film has a nonlinear narrative. It starts off as a mystery with a terrible event taking place and one that is not fully understood by the viewer. The film then cuts back in time again and again, showing sequences that contain events that took place before the events seen previously, therefore having a story structure similar to Memento (2000). By utilising this form of storytelling, Intersect forces the audience to pick up the right clues in the scenes they see now, in order to fully understand the scenes they witnessed before. The story begins by showing that the three main characters are successful scientists, and goes back and back in time, revealing how they struggled to reach their goal and eventually reaching their childhood. Although the main theme is time travel, the plot has an undercurrent of the experience of loss. Throughout the film, poor Ryan loses people that he cares about and the script includes many emotional scenes of mourning, adding a good deal of drama. Additionally, in the sequences where the heroes are children, the tone of the sci-fi thriller changes significantly, turning into a story about childhood by depicting scenes of school romance and bullying. And unfortunately (and not wanting to be too critical) the child actors give the impression that they could have done a better job. On the plus side, the movie is generally interesting to watch. The time machine itself looks amazing and resembles the one in Stargate (1994). Spisak and Dearing portray interesting and likeable individuals, but Ruthless steals the show as the talkative, fun-loving scientist who does not take himself very seriously. Rosete is equally entertaining as the psychotic, preaching madman. The sinister entities that inhabit another world look terrifying, sort of like giant insects. Unfortunately, they are only seen briefly but are a great addition and the place where they come from appears like a darkened hell. The #filmmakers have done an outstanding job with the CGI. Although the narrative seems to have issues with its structure and the ending is a bit disappointing, Intersect offers an interesting, touching and amusing experience. #JasonKnight

★★★ Directed by #JeremyGlaholt #LydiaSchamschula Written by #JeremyGlaholt #LydiaSchamschula Film Review by Hope Madden “People want to know about the road, if it was hard getting here. That’s not the question.” A Step Without Feet, the first documentary from Jeremy Glaholt and Lydia Schamschula, spends 90 minutes in snowy Berlin with a handful of refugees from the Syrian war. The filmmakers’ first question: What do you think of the word “refugee”? They don’t see the word the same way you do. It’s actually a fascinating way to get into a story that looks sideways at a topic so often portrayed in documentaries. The bloody, lengthy, horrific war in Syria has launched more documentaries than I can count, many of them brilliant, most of them brutal. Glaholt and Schamschula pull us out of all that brutality, mercifully, and drop us into the newly created lives of those who’ve escaped it: a dancer and a dentist, a musician and a cook, a writer and a student. Their resilience, nostalgia, trauma and optimism are on screen in a film that recognizes salvation—however profound—as just another transition in life. Though life in Germany has been seemingly peaceful for the group and each has many happy moments to discuss, the anxieties of the past and the longing for what is lost give their peaceful existence a bittersweet flavor. Many bridge the past and the present, their old home and new, with art. One writes, one dances, one sings, each of them tapping into something that gives creative outlet to their fear and yearning. The film’s biggest drawback is its lack of context. We’re 15 minutes or more into the film before anyone utters the word Syria. The reasons each one left is never clearly articulated. While those familiar with the conflict would certainly have a sense, the reasons that these individuals needed to flee while their parents or siblings were OK to stay is never addressed. With the clear and mostly fulfilled goal of casting these human beings in the present tense, the filmmakers likely made the conscious decision not to dig too deeply in this painful terrain. Still, the magnitude of the subjects’ sorrow, longing and trauma is tied to that specific conflict. To do their present justice we need more of their past. The film—almost exclusively talking head footage of interviews with the seven refugees—remains strangely captivating throughout. Because of the music, the dance, the poetry and the candor, a deeply human and powerfully universal story emerges. #HopeMadden

★★★★ Directed by: #AntonyAcheampong Written by: #AntonyAcheampong Starring: #SifaneleSityi, #SihleMnqwazana, #YuleMasiteng Film Review by: Darren Tilby Actor-turned Director Antony Acheampong’s beautifully realised directorial debut, short film Boy, may well be a tale we’re all accustomed to; an Oliver Twist-like piece that has graced our screens many times before. But, with its thoroughly South African twist, gorgeous cinematography, wholly contemporary retelling and fantastic performances, this is an exceptional little movie. After running away from his abusive household, a young boy (known only as Boy) meets the aptly named, Young Man. Who, after rescuing Boy from his dire situation, takes him under his wing and teaches him how to survive on the poverty-ridden streets of South Africa. Fronted by what may be my favourite debut (I think?) by a child actor since Haley Joel Osment dazzled us all in M. Knight Shyamalan’s, The Sixth Sense; Sifanele Sityi is genuinely spectacular as Boy. His is a performance with genuine emotional clout, one that shows great promise for this young boy’s future career in acting, should he choose to pursue one. The performances all-round are fantastic, though, and with the minimalist dialogue, teeming with sharp and to-the-point delivery, this is a movie, primarily, held together by the actors’ physical prowess. While I feel Acheampong’s writing speaks primarily of its South African heritage (particularly with its heavy use of South African vernacular), and quite rightly so, there’s also a universality within how he tells the story, itself. Themes of inequality compelled me – being British – to instantly draw parallels with the class struggles of Victorian England: which, whether we like to admit it or not, is still rife throughout the United Kingdom. Indeed, Acheampong brilliant writing means this movie is enjoyable to almost any audience. But what I particularly enjoyed here is Acheampong’s superb direction and how it complimented Warrick Le Sueur’s frankly stunning cinematography. The lighting is magnificent: The colours in the daytime scenes are vibrant and plentiful and during the night the deep blacks and rich blue hue, particularly towards the end of the movie, accentuate the ambience of painful inevitability that permeates throughout. Le Sueur’s composition is pitch-perfect, and he never once misses an opportunity to linger on something beautiful. That something beautiful is, usually, the breathtaking landscape of South Africa, itself. It’s exceptionally displayed, and Acheampong often contrasts its stunning beauty with the poverty-ridden cities our characters inhabit to great effect. There’s not much to dislike about Boy: yes, it could be more original, or perhaps (and I don’t say this very often) a little longer. But overall, it’s an incredible piece of short filmmaking. With its solid construction, career-making lead performance and beautiful photography, Boy hits all the right notes.