The Turing Enigma

I was sadly disappointed with this short film. Had no idea what story was being told here, moreover couldn't comprehend the dialog because 1) the British dialect; 2) poorly enunciated; 3) an overly broad dynamic range of the audio had me throttling the volume continuously, and 4) no subtitles. I mean, would it really have cost so much to add subtitles? At least the story could have been followed.

The black and white did nothing for the story either, other than make it unpleasant to watch. But the lack of subtitles, coupled with my inability to understand 85 percent of the dialog through the wretched audio, made me thankful I only spent $10 on it.

I loved everything about this film. Im not into my art house films, but this indie flick was fantastic. Its shot in Manchester, I know this as i recognize landmarks and streets but its a Manchester I don't recognize... its clinical, empty... almost has a post apocalyptic feel. This adds to the feel of the film.

The acting was great too. Odd snippets of humor were a warm welcome.

I particularly loved the colour Turing scenes.... I would like to have seen more of that. I would like to have learned more about Turing and did expect that when I sat down to watch the film, but i wasn't disappointed.

Good stuff :D

A thriller celebrating the work and tragic death of persecuted genius Alan Turing...

The film was shot on RED, in Manchester where Turing lived, worked and died, with modern-day sequences in black & white, and colour flashbacks to Turing in the 1950s

Turing himself was a lifelong lover of codes and treasure hunts, and during the war he actually buried his life savings at Bletchley Park in case the Germans won... only to find that after the war he couldn't crack his own coded map!

The film starts in the modern day, where a postcard from Turing turns up as part of the celebrations to mark what would have been his 100th birthday in 2012... in code it provides the key to understanding a series of strange postcards Turing actually wrote just before his death... and within them is the solution to one of the greatest unsolved maths problems.

With flashbacks to Turing the film is a pacey race to crack the code...

What a disappointing film because did not satisfy my expectations. Albeit amateurish production, I had expected a succession of scenes that guided the audience, myself included, who may or may not be completely ignorant about mathematics with an intelligent plot involving how and why some piece of mathematics or a plausible simulacrum of mathematics is integral to the story.

The film is rather poorly executed. • The choice to film in black & white was a failure because doing so was unnecessary and did not contribute to the story or acting; a failed attempt at being artistic. What makes a film artistic is excellent execution of cinematic techniques that enhance the story-telling in that medium.

• Too may scenes, especially with solo actor when the story is not progressing. The movie will benefit from liberal, judicious editing.

• The movie was incoherent because the characters's motivation and their actions was unclear, introduced the main plot beyond halfway through the movie, the Turing flashbacks did not contribute to the story, some of the character's identity or true identity were never given or verified, and had characters with undefined roles in the story especially when lacking reason for their contribution to plot development.

• The film lacked suspension of disbelief. There were no attempts to address, to explain, or to resolve obvious problems and questions that arise and linger in the audience's mind.

• For a short movie, < 90 min., bad form introducing characters, especially recurring, that do not contribute to the plot. The movie had some such characters.

I am not going to criticize the acting. I am not a film snob and I am very forgiving when it comes to acting. Suffice I write, the acting did not take me out the movie, which is a good.

Having recently heard that the director Pete Wild was a brilliant but deranged mathematician I thought I had to check this film out! It did not disappoint! You could tell by the apocalyptic atmosphere and off the wall script that this film was being created by an unhinged genius.In years to come this will be a cult classic!