This is a sombre and moody piece about violence in adolescents. Dialogue is very minimal which creates an even more unsettled tone as when have you ever known kids to keep their little mouths shut? All that inner character thinking runs the risk of keeping the audience in the dark but the film maintains a good balance of visual expression as well as a subtle and mysterious one. (Like that sinister kid that falls and cuts his lip, what’s on his mind while he’s creeping about)
There’s a good couple of ‘ooh, I felt that’ moments that’ll take you back to grazed knees and elbows times. All the kids in this are really good, natural and truthful. I’m not sure who plays who as no names are mentioned in the film or in the credits. Check the film’s IMDb page for further details. The kid that gets beaten up at the end stands out as particularly good, though his make-up on that last shot was a bit of a let down as it looks like he gets a much bigger kickin than that.
Film production is high throughout. Good picture quality, sound and shot composition. The edit is solid but I wasn’t sure about the choice to play around with the time line. The fight is supposed to be after school but we get shots of the quiet kid in school at the same time as his pal gets beaten up. All this without any clear indication on what time of day it is. This felt like unnecessary confusion that would pull audiences out of the story and into questioning mode. Am not sure who the target audience is on this one, there’s a touch of public health board campaign about it. Could do well in schools.
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