How They Get There

How They Get There (1997)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Short but clever film from Spike Jonze has a man and woman playing copycat as they walk down opposite sides of a street. The cute game quickly escalates to a violent episode.

HOW THEY GET THERE is a very funny and at times very violent three minute short that manages to make you laugh, which is all you can ask for. I really liked the set-up of the movie as it's just so sweet and charming that when "the" event happens it catches you off guard and helps make you laugh. I won't spoil what exactly happens but it's quite funny and leads to something that you wouldn't expect out of such a film.

This was Spike Jonzes' first short movie, after a series of videos. He obviously wanted to make an original statement without being boring or "theoretical". And he succeeded!

The story is a simple one, you could even say frivolous, but this only adds to the ironic and fresh feel about it. Yet, on the other hand, we could say that one can't get rid of the feeling as if he/she was watching a commercial selling a new line of shoes.

Be that as it may, it is clear that Jonze already in his first motion picture attempt proved the value of his unorthodox, vibrant and intelligent approach to making movies.

I think the beauty of this little film is that the two actors sparkle. When the girl picks up on the man's clumsy little trip and then begins to copy him, they are both so happy and so engaged. Unfortunately, in his case, he is also distracted. I followed along, engaged to the hilt, and was totally taken in. A simple idea wonderfully demonstrated in three minutes.

Lovely bit of dark comedy and the lengths we go to to impress each other

Wow, after seeing a long bloated artsy film nearly 25 Mons long comes Spike Jonze's amazing film.

Granted he had a budget to do the big surprise at the end (and it is) but man, you are engaged throughout. You will find it extremely cute at the beginning then the film totally smashes your expectations quite literally. Yes this film doesn't have any deep message and that's fine. Nevertheless, it does engage and keep you caring about characters, wonder what will happen next, and so forth.

It's cute, funny, violent, sick, interesting, sad, etc. need I say more? And it tells a great story in just 3 minutes - how many directors or films can do that? I'd love to see this again if I could find it somewhere. No wonder Spike Jonze is quickly becoming one of the best directors we have today.

10/10