Although the IMDb genre listing has this as a comedy, it is a short film where we open on the main character (George) attempting to kill himself by hanging – which is going well for a few seconds until the light fitting gives way and he falls to the floor of his messy flat. Going into the bathroom, he is alarmed to find that his reflection appears to have turned his back on him, with an image instead of the back of his head – something no balding man wants to see. It is not long before the reflection is totally gone, and George goes to great lengths to get it back.
There is a lot to like about this film. It opens in a dark place, however it moves away from that quite quickly, with the idea of George's reflection turning away in disgust. The effects, and the actor's horror, make this an effective sequence and it opens out into more creativity as the mirror becomes a water-filled portal into which George must enter. At this point I did struggle with the convenience of a man having a full scuba diving kit in his flat, but then I remembered this is set in New Zealand, so fair enough. The creativity of the idea, and the impressive nature of its delivery, is more than enough to engage on both a technical and narrative level. This understandably starts to wear of before the end, but the film wisely returns us to something of weight. This return to the event that started the film, and the story behind it, is well done and the nature of the conclusion is at once open to interpretation, but yet also very clear in its meaning (if not specifics).
Another interesting film from New Zealand, from which I have seen a lot of shorts recently and must have quite the artistic community for a country so small and distant – although the credits do reveal quite a few names in common with other shorts and films I have seen from down there (most notably Julia Parnell from Notable Pictures, who can probably take it as a sign of her impact when a non-industry bloke from Northern Ireland can recognize her name in a credit roll). Dive is another example of such good work from NZ – it is creative but also remembers to be more than just something clever, delivering the heart when it matters.
There is a lot to like about this film. It opens in a dark place, however it moves away from that quite quickly, with the idea of George's reflection turning away in disgust. The effects, and the actor's horror, make this an effective sequence and it opens out into more creativity as the mirror becomes a water-filled portal into which George must enter. At this point I did struggle with the convenience of a man having a full scuba diving kit in his flat, but then I remembered this is set in New Zealand, so fair enough. The creativity of the idea, and the impressive nature of its delivery, is more than enough to engage on both a technical and narrative level. This understandably starts to wear of before the end, but the film wisely returns us to something of weight. This return to the event that started the film, and the story behind it, is well done and the nature of the conclusion is at once open to interpretation, but yet also very clear in its meaning (if not specifics).
Another interesting film from New Zealand, from which I have seen a lot of shorts recently and must have quite the artistic community for a country so small and distant – although the credits do reveal quite a few names in common with other shorts and films I have seen from down there (most notably Julia Parnell from Notable Pictures, who can probably take it as a sign of her impact when a non-industry bloke from Northern Ireland can recognize her name in a credit roll). Dive is another example of such good work from NZ – it is creative but also remembers to be more than just something clever, delivering the heart when it matters.
