Reviewed from -
Cannes Film Festival 2015
Reviewed by -
The Stupid Asl.
12th June 2015
Film Reviews
Short Film Review #12 Hello, Again
Tonight we are going to the UK with Tom Ruddock's Hello, Again.
Hello, Again is a 12-minute-long drama short film about a young man called Owen, who goes to his mother's grave the morning after her funeral. There he meets Maura, a young girl whose father has recently died. Through an awkward misunderstanding they start talking with each other and end up sharing anecdotes about their loved ones. Thanks to his encounter with Maura Owen finds a way to connect with his mother again.
That was a really emotional short film. Probably too emotional for me (I ended up crying), which is very unusual in short films because they are so short that we (spectators) don't have the time to truly connect with the characters. Yet here, the setting was quite easy to understand so we entered the story almost immediately.
I honestly loved Hello, Again. I think that there was a real emotion conveyed in that film. You don't have to have lost someone to relate to the two main characters, the actor's performances were simply fantastic. I love that director and screenwriter Tom Ruddock, created such opposite characters. There is Owen (Jack Brett Anderson), the sad, fragile young man who's just lost his mother and Maura (Naomi Scott), the lovely, cutely weird, young woman who is, in her own way, dealing with her father's death. He's shy, she's outgoing, she speaks a lot, he doesn't and yet they bond really quickly.
The screenplay was well written which made Owen and Maura's conversation feel natural and not forced at all. Both main actors performed well, Naomi Scott's facial expressions made me hint a smile while Jack Brett Anderson's sadness brought tears to my eyes.
The film was well shot according to me. I like the fact that the main shot they used during Owen and Maura's conversation was a large short with the two of them in the middle surrounded by their loved ones' graves. It was an efficient way to show everything that needed to be seen. Though I have to say I wasn't a fan of the piano notes that were added while Owen was in the car in the beginning. I think that they didn't really add anything to the scene so they could have been left out but that's my opinion.
It's the second film about death that I've watched today and the fourth out of the twelve short films that I've already reviewed so I can say that death is a recurrent theme. Though it's interesting to see that none of the film has the same approach. Each film tackles it differently which is very interesting for me to watch.
I'm very glad I watched this film. Can't wait to see the cast and crew's future work!
For more information about this film, make sure to follow it on twitter : @Helloagain_Film or you can check out their website : www.helloagainfilm.wix.com/helloagainfilm
Oh and did I mention that Hello, Again was the trailer to the feature film "The Dash In-Between" ? Yeah I know it's the third in the row (I bet the next one will be as well).
For more information on director Tom Ruddock's work, check out is own website www.tomruddockdirector.com
To see website version of review - http://thestupidasl.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/short-film-review-12-hello-again.html
Reviewed from -
Newport Beach Film Festival 2015
Reviewed by -
Author: Lorin Geitner on IMBD
27th April 2015
Charming Short Film - 8/10
Charming short film I saw at a film festival.
The actress, Naomi Scott, was particularly skilled: she has an animated and incredibly expressive face that enabled her to bring much more inner life to her character than was likely written on the page.
The story is pretty straightforward: the day after attending his mother's funeral, a young man goes to visit his grave. There he encounters a lovely young woman visiting the grave of her father, which turns out to be right next to his mother. The subsequent dialog involves them interspersing their addressed their deceased loved one, segueing to talking with each other, and back and forth, ultimately finding a moment of comfort in encountering someone who is experiencing a similar grief.
The main character is, believably, altered by the momentary encounter, although, at the end, I felt left a little hanging: I wanted to see more of what happens to these characters.
The filmmaker talked to the audience at the film festival I attended, and indicated that they are, indeed, seeking financing to expand this into a full feature film. I hope they succeed in doing so.
And I'm going to have to check out some of Naomi Scott's other work; she strikes me as a very promising actress.
To see Website version of review on IMDB -