In God We Trust

While Jason Reitman certainly has plenty of connections, at least he is trying different forms of filmmaking before following his talented father. Funny, eclectic, and interesting, I really thought this was a great little film to watch.

Sure, some of the jokes seemed a little forced, but the dancing scene is priceless. It was also fun to see how ingeniously purgatory was portrayed, a lumbering beaurocracy between the upper management and the mail room (hell). At least we know the younger Reitman is cutting his teeth and refining his work before he tries to make longer films.

A man is distracted by a quarter lying on the street, which causes him to get hit by a vehicle and killed. Arriving in purgatory he is shocked to find that his records says he got sufficient negative points during his lifetime to condemn him to Hell – nothing anyone can do, it's the system. A Windows (Purgatory Edition) issue gives the man a chance and he bolts for the elevator, taking his soul back down to his body. Happy to be alive, the man discovers that the admins in Purgatory are now trying to kill him again to return him to his rightful place.

This student short film has a touch of Final Destination about it in the structure but it has more than enough of its own going on. Starting with ha surprisingly well done car accident, the film takes us into the comedic admin of the afterlife before the escape attempt which has various comic attempts to return him to death, while at the same time the man ranks up positive points without even knowing it. Generally it has a nice comic tone and some particularly funny moments, although it must be said that some of the material and delivery could have been tighter and funnier – some jokes are just okay and need a bit of carrying. The film looks and sounds good though and I was impressed by the sharp image and mostly good shooting in locations and external – okay purgatory could have done with a bit more design in there, but it works for what it is.

The acting is mostly good with only some of the weaker jokes showing the cracks – the delivery needed to step up to make them better but it doesn't. Mostly though it is a nicely written and delivered short film which is consistently amusing throughout even if not as perfectly sharp and hilarious as it could have been.

This is an early short film by Jason Reitman a name that rung a bell somewhere so looked him up on this site to discover he's the Canadian director of acclaimed films such as THANK YOU FOR SMOKING , JUNO and UP IN THE AIR .so that makes him relatively rare in that of the many short films I've recently seen he's gone on to having a very successful career in making feature length films

From the outset we're shown the directors talent as he uses the language of cinema such as editing as the camera pans across space on to Planet Earth and a crash zoom lens hits upon a man called Robert picking up a quarter on the a road that ends up becoming a fatal mistake . At this point I thought I might be watching a short film inspired by a rather disappointing British sit-com from the early 1980s called DEAD ERNEST that starred Andrew Sachs who found himself in Heaven and did all he could to be sent back to a mortal life . This isn't in fact how this short film pans out and despite its title and premise only the most bigoted bible basher will find anything offensive about it . It's a film dealing with redemption and contains a lot of charm and this is mainly down to Richard Speight as Robert a rather u, likable loser type character . As I said earlier the director uses some impressive camera work and keeps a consistent tone throughout and while there might be a slightly twee element it's a very enjoyable black comedy

Of the 30 shorts I saw at Sundance, this was by far the best. The imagery was bright and fun. You almost want to get up and cheer for the hero throughout the film. I don't know if or when this film is going to come out but if it does---see it!

What would happen if you died, and were destined to live the rest of eternal life in hell, on the technicality that not quite enough good deeds had been done to qualify for eternal bliss in the great above? Most likely what the main character in this hilarious short does: RUN LIKE HELL!!!

This film is a fast paced race for survival with a man on a mission to amend his life -- after escaping the halls of judgement -- while a bunch of angels track him down for a kill. In the style of "Run Lola Run" the main character speeds along from destination to destination overcoming obstacles along the way. The plot is much less serious than the aforementioned movie however, and comes up with hilarious scenarios for our hero to deal with.

With great cinematography, accompanying music, and a great sense of humor this is one short not to miss!

You can see it if you like at www.atomfilms.com