Dirtbag

This short film has some fun ideas. The concept alone is silly and has a nice allegory for the addictive nature of our own baggage.

The cinematography and lighting looks great throughout, especially in the nighttime shots.

The sense of humor is ridiculous and self aware, however, it feels a bit ~too~ self aware at times. There is some over-acting here that shoves the humor a bit too much in your face. Sometimes it managed to do some endearing awkward humor and other times it was forced.

Going back to the acting, it's a mixed bag in this one. Some of the cast really understand the tone that the film is going for, and others seem to not. I'm not sure who's at fault for that, be it the director Karsten Runquist, or the actors themselves, but the acting was a bit mediocre in some spots. But perhaps the style of acting is very much intended, and it's just not to my sense of humor.

Overall, this is a good short that shows promise for future work from Karsten and crew. It is lighthearted and has a unique concept. Some of the acting brought down the experience for me, but I could see this type of silly self aware humor really landing for certain people. This short film has a lot of charm, and was a pleasant experience despite its flaws. I look forward to future work from these filmmakers. 7/10, I recommend checking it out, it's short (obviously) so it won't waste your time.

This one was pretty solid. Some actors (for example the first cousin, among others) are really overdoing it tho. Sadly that kinda took me out of the experience and really gives these parts an amateurish quality. And I mean that's a shame because the production and some of the other actors are doing a great job. Especially the two main actors, the gardener and the "man with the bag" were great and their subtlety works much better in this material than the overacting that some of the actors in smaller parts did. I love how the "man with the bag" seems so unaware of the absurdity in his behaviour - that contrast really makes it work.

So yeah, overall I think a more coherent directing of the actors (or casting, who knows) would have really elevated this one. Besides that there are a lot of good ideas here that make this an enjoyable watch.