Reviewed by James Quicksell

Kicking off the August Film Fest this year is a 12 minute dark drama about a boy who's caught in a battle between the girl he fantasies about and his own group of friends. Not ever seeing a Dave Smith film before I didn't really know what to expect. I was surprised however at how the movie turned out. Despite not being up to par with the scenery and animation it was interesting enough to keep me watching throughout its 12 minute length, which for a movie such as this is quite a compliment.

No matter how you look at it this movie can be categorized as a brutally real movie. As Aaron noticed it captured the "bully persona" quite well and it resulted in the immediate dislike of the victim of this part of the movie, Mark. By victim which I mean he seemed to be the one calling all the shots and being a typical bully but his irrational thinking sometimes lead the movie into dangerous territory. Personally the lynching scene shocked the hell out of me. You actually sorta feel bad the character John, especially as a new kid with no friends. Never been put through it myself though it probably didn't effect me like it would some.

The main character Chuck was also really played out well I thought. Caught in his fantasies of a girl he's only really seen from afar he makes some crucial decisions and gave the character Mark a piece of the audiences mind a few times. Also the way his friends seemed to abandon him reminds me of feelings I've felt before, though Chuck's seemed to be a bit more extreme. I just really liked the setup because at the beginning of the movie you really didn't seem to know which character was going to be the outcast. In fact it looked as if the movie was gonna be about Mark and his crew. Smith however took it in a different direction and pulled it off fairly well.

The one part of the movie that bothered me was the end. For some reason it just all fell apart. After Chuck confronted Mark it just seemed like "well that's that" and he went off with his girl. You hear nothing of the other two characters who were friends of Mark really, unless you were just led to assume about them. It just felt a little...incomplete.

The scenery and animation as I said weren't really up to par but it worked. This was the type of movie that didn't really need it. The music and sound weren't bad either though could've used a little work. There's nothing much else technically I really wanna talk about.

Overall this was a decent drama that was original and worked. A great film fest opener.

7.6/10