TimeNTide
Joined Jan 2006
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Reviews57
TimeNTide's rating
This short is a behind the scenes, making of promo for the musical feature film "The Boy Friend" (1971). I saw it on TCM in the US where it plays occasionally.
This short was a bit educational for me for two reasons. First, even though I grew up in the 70's, I don't remember even hearing about the film "The Boy Friend". I assumed it was probably forgotten because it was lousy, but it actually has a very good IMDb user rating, so I'll have to check it out if I ever get the chance. Second, although I grew up hearing about the skinny 60's fashion model icon named Twiggy, I never knew that she became an actress, much less one that sang and danced.
As the title implies, there's lots of talking and singing and dancing in this short. Frankly, nothing that the narrator, director, production designer or Twiggy says is terribly interesting or memorable. There's lots of behind the scenes footage of dance and song rehearsals, along with clips from the feature film which is a musical set in the 1920's. Those parts are somewhat enjoyable if you like musicals.
Overall... nothing memorable in this short, but it did put me on the trail of a feature film that may be worth checking out.
This short was a bit educational for me for two reasons. First, even though I grew up in the 70's, I don't remember even hearing about the film "The Boy Friend". I assumed it was probably forgotten because it was lousy, but it actually has a very good IMDb user rating, so I'll have to check it out if I ever get the chance. Second, although I grew up hearing about the skinny 60's fashion model icon named Twiggy, I never knew that she became an actress, much less one that sang and danced.
As the title implies, there's lots of talking and singing and dancing in this short. Frankly, nothing that the narrator, director, production designer or Twiggy says is terribly interesting or memorable. There's lots of behind the scenes footage of dance and song rehearsals, along with clips from the feature film which is a musical set in the 1920's. Those parts are somewhat enjoyable if you like musicals.
Overall... nothing memorable in this short, but it did put me on the trail of a feature film that may be worth checking out.
I can't believe that I'm the first to comment on this excellent short film. I seen this on the Sundance Channel in the US on numerous occasions and it's always entertaining and worthy of a rewatch, especially since it only takes up 12.5 minutes of your time, less if you skip the credits.
While an elderly Norwegian man bundles up his granddaughter before sending her out into the snow, he relates the tale of his repeated attempts as a youth to join the resistance against the Nazis in WWII. Although he spins his tale in an impassive fashion, it touches a wide variety of emotions... always entertaining and interesting, often hilarious and sometimes painfully sad. It's very well written.
The animation style (mostly claymation) is delightful and clever, so this is a must see for claymation fans. My favorite elements are the huge metal "wheel" that represents the Nazi war machine and the encounter with the fish on the kitchen table.
Definitely worth a watch... and another... and another...
While an elderly Norwegian man bundles up his granddaughter before sending her out into the snow, he relates the tale of his repeated attempts as a youth to join the resistance against the Nazis in WWII. Although he spins his tale in an impassive fashion, it touches a wide variety of emotions... always entertaining and interesting, often hilarious and sometimes painfully sad. It's very well written.
The animation style (mostly claymation) is delightful and clever, so this is a must see for claymation fans. My favorite elements are the huge metal "wheel" that represents the Nazi war machine and the encounter with the fish on the kitchen table.
Definitely worth a watch... and another... and another...
I've seen this short on the Sundance Channel in the US a few times. At first look, it wasn't very entertaining or memorable. The second time I saw it I realized that I had missed the point and gained a lot of respect for this film.
The US media only likes to tackle the subject of handicapped people when they are being shown as victims who need to be protected or as heroic characters who overcome and achieve while displaying admirable qualities. In this film the director gives us a new take... we see a slice of life of several blind and sight impaired teenage boys who are neither victims or heroes, they are simply aimless youth like so many others in America. There are indeed some interesting and educational bits concerned with blindness, like Mike describing how he finds his driveway by recognizing the cracks and seams in the sidewalk, and Mike teaching his pal Joey to listen for echoes when tapping the walking cane.
However, most of the film is showing us that these blind guys lead the same shiftless lives as so many other "normal" teenagers do. They hang out, curse, talk smack, ride bikes, break things in abandoned buildings, work boring menial jobs, talk about rappers, fist fights and the opposite sex, and dream of travel to exotic locations without ever doing anything to work toward that goal. And like most teenage cliques, they hang out together because they don't fit in well with others. And we are shown that their emotions are no different than ours. When Mike is dumped by his seeing girlfriend over the phone, he goes through the same emotional range that the typical guy would... anger, sadness, bitterness, sour grapes ("She was ugly anyway.") and moving on ("Hey, bitches!").
The point: the fact that someone has a handicap doesn't automatically turn them into a wonderful person with admirable qualities striving to overcome their limitations, which is what the media typically wants us to believe.
Engaging and admirable short film once you understand it.
The US media only likes to tackle the subject of handicapped people when they are being shown as victims who need to be protected or as heroic characters who overcome and achieve while displaying admirable qualities. In this film the director gives us a new take... we see a slice of life of several blind and sight impaired teenage boys who are neither victims or heroes, they are simply aimless youth like so many others in America. There are indeed some interesting and educational bits concerned with blindness, like Mike describing how he finds his driveway by recognizing the cracks and seams in the sidewalk, and Mike teaching his pal Joey to listen for echoes when tapping the walking cane.
However, most of the film is showing us that these blind guys lead the same shiftless lives as so many other "normal" teenagers do. They hang out, curse, talk smack, ride bikes, break things in abandoned buildings, work boring menial jobs, talk about rappers, fist fights and the opposite sex, and dream of travel to exotic locations without ever doing anything to work toward that goal. And like most teenage cliques, they hang out together because they don't fit in well with others. And we are shown that their emotions are no different than ours. When Mike is dumped by his seeing girlfriend over the phone, he goes through the same emotional range that the typical guy would... anger, sadness, bitterness, sour grapes ("She was ugly anyway.") and moving on ("Hey, bitches!").
The point: the fact that someone has a handicap doesn't automatically turn them into a wonderful person with admirable qualities striving to overcome their limitations, which is what the media typically wants us to believe.
Engaging and admirable short film once you understand it.