The Six Dollar Fifty Man

Young boy Andy is a bit of an outsider as he lives in a fictional world of superheroes, specifically that of the Six Million Dollar Man. A friendship with a girl in his class and a confrontation with bullies sees him broken out of this world and into reality.

Filmed in New Zealand this rough and ready little short has a decent plot but not one that fully scanned with me in terms of the motivations of the characters to do what they did. This was the case with the girl and also with the headmaster, although the latter was perhaps more obvious. The acting is what made it stand out for me because the child cast are very strong – specifically Vandy-Connor in the lead role. He is natural, filled with anger and very confident in front of the camera. It must have been hard work to get this from him but the directors did a good job. The film also looks good and has a certain rough honesty to how it feels, but I personally didn't really feel a connection with the narrative, even though I appreciated what the film did well around that.