I was lucky enough to see the film yesterday and I have to say I loved it!!! Only two out of the seven short films were a bit on the bad side, but overall a very good film.
I'll try to keep my comments spoiler-free for those who haven't seen it, but there is one on the final comment (there's a note right before it).
TANZA This is the first short film presented and I have to say one of the weakest. I would have preferred to see the characters speaking in their native tongue and have subtitles there rather than hearing them attempt to speak English, it made the whole thing a bit unnatural, and the end result is not really satisfying in my opinion.
BLUE GYPSY This was one of my favorites. The lovely balance of humor and dramatic undertones eventually collide in an impressive and gripping result. Loved it!!!
Jesus CHILDREN OF America A great one as well! The little kid actress is wonderful and there is some pretty heavy stuff on this one. The ending scene was not very good though, but everything else in this short makes-up for this little "mistake".
JOAO AND BILU This was another one of my favorites. There's nothing too dramatic on this one but therein lies it's beauty, in it's simplicity.
CIRO Another great short. I loved the whole shadow play and in the end it really goes to the core of what being a child is.
JONATHAN This one was definitely the worst. Pretentious and completely uninteresting, it doesn't even come close to the quality of all the other ones.
SONG SONG AND LITTLE CAT (*contains SPOILERS*) This one was awesome and it could have been the best one of them all if John Woo hadn't exploded its resources. It starts off very well and it has many heart-wrenching moments but we really could have done without the explicit shot of the "grandfather" holding the old pencil, or any of the ending shots for that matter. I would have ended it on the girl looking at the kids in school, it would have been more powerful to end it like that rather than force it to be a happy ending, I mean come on! The grandpa saying "goodbye" through the window, we did not need that! Anyways, in spite of all that I really loved it. And OMG it ends and the BEAUTIFUL, Oscar-deserving song "Teach Me Again" by Elisa (featuring Tina Turner) comes up!!!!!! Can't think of a better way to end a movie :)
I'll try to keep my comments spoiler-free for those who haven't seen it, but there is one on the final comment (there's a note right before it).
TANZA This is the first short film presented and I have to say one of the weakest. I would have preferred to see the characters speaking in their native tongue and have subtitles there rather than hearing them attempt to speak English, it made the whole thing a bit unnatural, and the end result is not really satisfying in my opinion.
BLUE GYPSY This was one of my favorites. The lovely balance of humor and dramatic undertones eventually collide in an impressive and gripping result. Loved it!!!
Jesus CHILDREN OF America A great one as well! The little kid actress is wonderful and there is some pretty heavy stuff on this one. The ending scene was not very good though, but everything else in this short makes-up for this little "mistake".
JOAO AND BILU This was another one of my favorites. There's nothing too dramatic on this one but therein lies it's beauty, in it's simplicity.
CIRO Another great short. I loved the whole shadow play and in the end it really goes to the core of what being a child is.
JONATHAN This one was definitely the worst. Pretentious and completely uninteresting, it doesn't even come close to the quality of all the other ones.
SONG SONG AND LITTLE CAT (*contains SPOILERS*) This one was awesome and it could have been the best one of them all if John Woo hadn't exploded its resources. It starts off very well and it has many heart-wrenching moments but we really could have done without the explicit shot of the "grandfather" holding the old pencil, or any of the ending shots for that matter. I would have ended it on the girl looking at the kids in school, it would have been more powerful to end it like that rather than force it to be a happy ending, I mean come on! The grandpa saying "goodbye" through the window, we did not need that! Anyways, in spite of all that I really loved it. And OMG it ends and the BEAUTIFUL, Oscar-deserving song "Teach Me Again" by Elisa (featuring Tina Turner) comes up!!!!!! Can't think of a better way to end a movie :)