User Reviews

Well, I just got back from my yearly pilgrimage to see the nominees for the Best Live Action Academy Award. Compared to other years, this is an interesting field, as I actually liked all the films and see there being no clear winner. Usually I have at least a few of them I don't particularly like but this is a good crop...but there also is no clearly 'perfect' film as well. So, in light of this, my predicting that "The Confession" will be the most likely of the films to win is not at all certain--as I see this as mostly a three film race but any of the five could easily win.

The film begins with a cute kid (Ardal) announcing to his pretty teacher that he was in love with her. However, this is not a typical sort of crush, as the kid buys the lady a ring and writes a date in his planner when he anticipates marrying her in ten years! Later, when the boy and his mother see the teacher with her new fiancé, the boy is crushed--and angered because the fiancé seemed a bit insensitive towards her. How the kid resolves all this is just plain crazy--and left me very, very cold and a bit confused. Was it advocating gun violence or saying the kid's behavior was good?! What about a woman who could condone this? I just felt very conflicted over this one and felt this 'surprise twist' made the film almost impossible to believe--though the acting and direction were still very good.

I think "The Crush" is the least likely of the five films to win and although I liked the film and greatly respect it, it had some plot problems that left me a bit confused. Up until the very end, I loved the film but the final confrontation scene left me wondering many things--and I hated the response by the teacher as it seemed to make no sense and seemed a bit vicious and bizarre. I'd say more, but it would give away too much of the plot...but it just seemed like the wrong way to end this film.

A primary school boy has a crush on his teacher. This starts out like many a crush, but soon escalates into something more deadly...

This film works well when the boy and the teacher dominate the first two-thirds. The scenes are naturalistic and endearing. A precocious turn by Oran Creagh as the besotted but unnervingly mature Ardal Travis keeps us hooked. Olga Wehrly as the put-upon teacher is full of liberal good intentions while simultaneously not quite grasping the full import of what is going on right in front of her eyes.

Unfortunately, the film starts to unravel when The Boyfriend (Rory Keenan hamming it up) appears. What has been sweet and episodic till this point becomes forced and caricatured. The Boyfriend is just too much of a pantomime villain. Had he been more well-drawn, the audience would be asking, "Will the teacher realise he is no good for her?" It would then be down to the boy to bring that about. As it is, he is so in-your-face loutish that the audience instead asks, "What is WRONG with this woman that she cannot see what a dick-head this guy is!?"

And he is a dick-head. The boy says so. Which brings me to my other problem with this film, the jarring switch in tone in the last third. Till that point, I was thinking this was something I could show to my primary-school age kids. Then someone decides it is funny to have a kid use naughty words (always a sign of juvenile filmmakers). After that, it descends into amateurish self-indulgence. The gunshot/ball roll is weak. Having the teacher use the word 'kiddie fiddler' is just crass and totally out of tune with the tone of the first two thirds.

A shame really, because the film builds so well and unearths real talent in the boy. Maybe they thought they had to be 'edgy' with their ending, but it comes off as a lack of confidence and control in the filmmakers. All in all, a missed opportunity.

This film seems to be comedy for the first half of the story because it is unusual that a boy comes to love a woman and gives have a ring. The scene is not only comical but also cute so I could not stand laughing. However, the atmosphere changes gradually. The expression of the boy is very serious and makes audience think "What' happen next?". And the scene that the boy direct a gun to the man was really heart going, so I think that the film s a kind of horror or something like that. Also, it means that such a young boy can have the same passion to adult and sometimes it overstep adult's passion. So we should not neglect young children's feeling. However, the ending was comical again, so I got relive. By the way, I think the woman will not be able to make a boyfriend unless the boy abandon her.

This short film tells the story of a young primary school boy who has developed a crush for his teacher. He sets his mind on being with her, bringing her a ring. Amused by the child's naivety, his teacher accepts the present and tells him she will think about the proposal. However, the next day while walking in the street, the boy encounters his teacher with another man, who she introduces as her fiancé. Hurt by his teacher's betrayal, the boy takes extreme measures to show his teacher that she shouldn't stay with her soon to be husband.

For several reasons I did not enjoy this short film, finding it too unrealistic to my taste. I was also triggered by the fact that it took quite lightly the issue of gun possession by children but also the position of women. Even though he is only a child and has yet to experience anything in life, the little boy is portrayed as the teacher's hero, knowing better what is good for her then herself, and saving her from her "horrible" fiancé. Some very clichéd stereotypes are also uttered, such as the fact that he can't be with her unless he can support her financially. I just really did not like the image relayed by the teacher, one of a damsel in distress, that needs to be taught how to make better choices in her life by an eight year old child. The boy is also portrayed in quite a disturbing matter. First in his way of speaking but also of course in his actions as he is threatening another man with a gun only to "get a woman". Overall, this short film did not initiate any feelings of enjoyment in me, just frustration over the characters portrayal and over the turn of events.

Tricking the audience is one of the qualifications of exciting and impressing films, and this short film: The Crush is very good at it. There is an elementary school boy who is having a crush on his female teacher, and one day she gives her a ring of toy. She is very happy about it, but she does not take it seriously and she keeps treating as a kid. Also, she has a boyfriend. One day, the boy calls out her boyfriend personally with a gun and he tries him to promise he doesn't marry her because the boy thinks he doesn't deserve it. Since the boyfriend is terrified by the gun, he said very inappropriate things and made her disappointed. The pure crush of one guy reveals the bad guy's innermost nature. Including audience, everybody thinks that the gun is a real, but actually is a toy until the end. One of the reasons why audience is tricked is because of intentionally showed the scene of the boy's father hiding his gun, and the boy watches it. I learned the filmmaker can use any scene for reasoning main characters' behavior.

I found this movie ridiculous. A kid who argues like and thinks like an adult, and the slow and stupid responses of the adults are just too unreal. When the kid was holding the gun, the woman could have easily snatched it away, and yet she just chose to sit and watch the drama. The dialogue of the man criticizing his girlfriend just before being shot also seems like it was forced so that a story would come out of it. It's an amateur film. I'm surprised it has such a high rating. There's nothing real or interesting in the movie. In the end, the kid conveniently decides not to marry her after all, after the entire drama.

A schoolboy apparently has the hots for his lovely elementary school teacher. Convinced he will marry her, the boy challenges her good-for-nothing fiancé to a duel. The battle begins, and the boy pulls out a pistol. He harasses the fiancé who confesses that he isn't ready to be married. He closes by saying that he hopes his teacher will find a better man. The movie is entirely guilty of exploiting its child character and doesn't have the conviction to actually conclude the story properly. It's about average when compared to the other shorts this year.

Not Recommended

"The Crush" is an Irish 15-minute live action short film that was nominated for an Academy award 5 years ago. All in all, I would say I am fine with the film getting such an honor. It's not as good as the winner ("God of Love"), but still good. The story is told interestingly and yes the way the teacher and her boyfriend split up in that situation was a bit too melodramatic for my taste, but I can ignore that as the shooting sequence before that was pretty good I must say. I just wished the filmmaker here would have gone slightly more for drama over comedy as with the ending it becomes obvious that this film is at least 80% comedy. With filmmaker I mean writer and director Michael Creagh. I find it a bit sad that he has not made any other films or even short films since this one here as I can see some talent for sure. Overall, I guess I recommend the watch and I hope we will see a bit more from Creagh in the future at some point.

This film is a story about a child falling in love into a teacher. This film was very scary but so sweet. I think Ardle was very smart to do this. At first, I guess he was really in love to the teacher but, he realized he can't marry her so changed his love to saving his teacher. The way he did it was a bit hard but I felt that his love is so strong. The man didn't have the feeling as Ardle.I thought it is very sweet to do things for people's happiness. It was a good point that he didn't change his feelings when his heart was broken, like some criminals and bad endings. I wish the film didn't show the gun until he and the man meet at the dark place. Because it would make it more horror and more like a surprise. It was good the boy's parents won't know what happened.

This movie is about a child who love his school teacher. He likes his teacher, so he gives a ring to her. She is happy to get the ring. He enjoys going to school every day. One day, he goes shopping with his mother. Then, he meets his teacher on the way to shopping. However, a happening occurs. It's that she has boyfriend and he meets him. He is shocked. From that day, he avoids the teacher. A few days later, he sees the teacher meets her boy friend. He is very irritated. One day, his father hides a gun into closet. He sees the scene. He tries to kill the boy friend of his teacher. He tells the boy friend to come a place. The boy friend comes the place. The child points his gun at the boy friend. He begs for his life. He tells him that the doesn't love his girl friend. The child pull the trigger. The gun is air gun. It is unimaginable end. The teacher leaves him and takes the child to somewhere. The child wins the man. His lone for the teacher is so strong. I think loving someone is very good and it makes our act positively.

The story is about an 8 years old schoolboy who falls in love with his teacher, and finds out that she engaged with her boyfriend. He thinks that her boyfriend is not good enough for the teacher, he challenges him to a duel to the death. The movie itself has a cloudy mood. We cannot predict the action of each character, making us concentrate to the story on see what is going to happen next. Even the setup does not seem to be a thriller movie, but it is definitely a thriller by the scenes being presented all along. However, I personally hate this kind of movie because the decision of every main character does not make any sense to me. After I finish watching it, instead of feeling with the character, I get annoyed by them at the end of the movie. In other word, I do not enjoy this movie at all.

SPOIL - Every character seem to be more stupid than the kids? 1. Father buy a model gun or kind of weapon model to his son is very weird 2. Teacher could have done something to the boy when he holing a gut pointing as someone 3. Teacher's boyfriend should only say "I won't marry her" to get out of the situation, no need to say such a thing that he actually think.

"The Crush" is a love story about the boy crush on his teacher. One day, the boy gives an engagement ring to his teacher, and he confesses to her. However, he comes across her faience in the city. The boy challenges him to a duel in order to prevent her marriage. His use of toy rings and guns shows the determination of a child. His behavior is so cute, and his adult demeanor is so adorable. The depiction of the boy's emotions is very easy to understand as his facial expressions are clearly reflected on screen. The footage during the duel has a tense feel that makes my hands sweat, and the actors' acting, and camera work makes it even more realistic. This story starts with a cute love scene between children and ends with a fierce battle. The script and direction were excellent, and the unpredictable developments made me excited.

'The Crush' plays with the notion of innocence in a highly romanticised light, clearly trying to bring back the lost bravado of the Western cowboy heroes from an older generation that the 8 year old protagonist - Ardal - idolises, looks up to for inspiration on his bedroom wall, admires through the veil of his father's dinner time stories (despite the ultimately futile warning from his mother), and eventually, to the anticipation of any viewer with a brain, goes on to mimic. This romanticisation is drastically dangerous territory that first-timer writer and director Michael Creagh was too ambitious in his entry into, because while the film feigns innocence in denying the convention that introducing a gun into a story will guarantee that someone will later die, the real victims of Ardal's toy gun are the children and teachers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida; Marshall County High School, Kentucky; Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut; and the hundreds of school shootings by child perpetrators that have taken place since then. The reason is simply that films like 'The Crush' naively perpetuate the message that guns are the answer. Children will watch Ardal win over Pierce and mimic him, just as Ardal mimics his cowboy idols; and for Ardal to mimic cowboys and get away with it is to promote a telling of history that represses any plight for recognition and understanding that the Native Americans rightfully have claim to, exposing the deep extent to which violence and repression hold root to within modern culture. The problem is cultural, historical, and deeply rooted within the traditions that lead to the film's Oscar nomination. The moral responsibility artists have in providing snapshots of history that are not repressive in nature is for the sake of diminishing this problem, and in this light the innocence that 'The Crush' attempts to romanticise is ultimately its undoing.