Review of 'Another Christmas' which can be found here at UK Student Films. (film no longer available from YouTube. Must have taken it off after reading this review)
Length: 04:30
Logline: A typical student celebrates Christmas alone and dreams of better times.
The shot lengths are too long in the edit showing rookie mistakes. Add to that shoddy camera work, tinny audio, lack of set design, professional acting, bad narrative structure, couple it with no budget and it all adds up to a very amateur piece indeed. List of bad point aside, it made me smile.
This film is pretty rubbish so was only given two stars but earned and extra for the hysterical entertainment it provided by giving me a stark reminder of the squalor and hideousness of student accommodation.
We have student Billy, played by student Kev Kaye, floundering about with his Christmas dinner which has magically presented itself on the work top. He goes through a series of comedy errors and effectively ruins his meal and although Bill doesn’t look the type to let a turkey dinner go to waste let (though he does look like he would normally spit on the floor), it ends up in the bin. But not before he slips into a hallucination about a more festive occasion. Snapping back to reality, he trudges off in much the same way he entered and there it ends. This terrible plot also has the dreaded fade to black at the end. Signifying that the writer couldn’t be bothered concluding the film. It has a bit of a ‘make do and mend’ feel to it as well. In other words, these guys happened to be having their Christmas dinner any ways so filmed it, used the footage and turned it in as an assignment quite probably.
I loved the transition from nostalgic classic Christmas carol soundtrack to the shaky high shot of a tacky shit-hole kitchen. Other highlights include polystyrene tiles on the ceiling (probably banned in most countries by now), dirty dishes on the side board, a radiator besieged with drying washing, grime splattered overflowing bin, a tatty old sofa, unmatching cutlery and three folk crammed round the smallest table in history.
Best Bit: The blank joke from inside the cracker which was no doubt funnier than the real one that came out of it.
Worst Bit: The half-arsed plot and the poor editing.
Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.
Lee Hamilton, I don't like your face or the cut of your jib
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