The Long and Short of It

A lot of times, filmmakers and film students try to complicate things too much and end up creating a big mess of a story. Astin took a very simple idea and theme, planned and shot it well, and ultimately created a small work of art. Simplicity and great execution tend to be the characteristics that create really good short films. Think of all of the Pixar's shorts. Maybe that's why they bring home the best short film Oscars most of the time?

Cinematographer, Andrew Lesnie, does a great job in his acting debut as the grizzly painter! The part fits him well! Fon Chansantor is perfect and brings a smile of your face the first time you see her on screen. I can't forget to mention "Tall Paul" Randall who does delivers a fine wordless performance as well!

Congratulations to Mr. Astin on such a fine short. I've seen a lot of short films, but this is on of the best and my most favorite live-action short I've seen to date.

NOTE: Look for a cameo by Peter Jackson. It's pretty obvious which one he is!

This is a wonderful little short about cooperation. The direction is great. Sean took a very simple approach, not a lot of angles, just letting the simple story and setting come out. It seems like it was done simply as a fun diversion while filming the epic Lord of the Rings, and illustrating on a small level what all those involved learned. Watch for Peter Jackson's cameo. And be sure to read the credits. Some are just plain funny! All in all, a fun short film, that proves that Sean Astin has the instinct to become a great director, if he wants to.

After I watched this, I had a big smile on my face. It's only about five minutes long, but it brings across an important message that should be around more where I am. It's about when a 'grizzled painters' trying to paste a poster up on the wall, but his ladders broken and he's struggling to get it up properly. Then a 3 1/2 foot tall woman and an 8 foot man help him. Just imagine a place where everybody stretched out there empty hands to help other people. It's inspiring. I love Sean Astin's acting and I hope he goes further with directing. It's exactly like what happened to make this, cast and crew working on the Lord of the Rings giving up their spare time to help. It's great! 10/10

Nice little film with the message of helping each other out in a hard situation. You can almost touch the friendly and sympathetic atmosphere. Visually, it wasn't that special but still you can see that there's much more professional film crew behind it than with your average short films. And I think the music suits this one well. Of course we wouldn't know of this if it wasn't on the LOTR DVD but it made me smile, maybe even chuckle a bit and that's enough. Worth watching it again some another time, especially as this doesn't really take that much time out of your life.

When I saw The long and short of it I was feeling a little bit down but after the screening I felt A lot better. It's this kind of story that gives you A warm feeling inside, and we all can use some more of this. The story itself is simple, and the moral after it is good. It shows that if we all work together we can achieve almost everything. I hope to see more of this kind of movie's.