The Dead Kid

Gregory D. Goyins and his team created a short film that will touch your heart and awaken your soul. This period piece delivers a timeless message about bullying, racism and peer pressure that everyone can relate to.

I especially liked the narration of the older Annie Baxter looking back on her life and the valuable lessons that she has learned. The cinematography is just beautiful and the child actors did an amazing job. I loved everything about Mr. Dunbar and he eventually moved me to tears.

This is a short that I could see being made into a feature film in the near future as all of the characters have such an amazing amount of potential.

THE DEAD KID deals with the conflicts of childhood's mistakes. The protagonist knows she is complicit to wrongdoing even though she didn't do wrong, and she confesses her feelings of guilt in this touching, smart and wise little film. Deftly written with a realistic yet poetic tone, THE DEAD KID is directed with dark and vital imagery,illuminating a story that could have happened to anybody. The story deals with bullying--the kid who is innocent, bullied, yet takes it and perhaps expects it. Two girls observe the acts but do nothing to stop them, and one of them suffers for realizing that.

Watching THE DEAD KID reminds the viewer of those many omissions and slight transgressions of childhood and youth we were never punished for, except in our own hearts. Very touching, very well done. It is a remembrance and an apology for all of us.

"The Dead Kid" is everything you hope for when you start watching a short film. The cinematography is strong, the sound and editing are invisible (sound is so often a short film's downfall), the score is present at all the right times but not overtly so—the film is feature- quality. But ultimately, what stands out most after viewing "The Dead Kid" is how well-written it is. The story has a forward-motion rarely seen in short films, and even features. Every scene matters in this film, nothing is nonessential. You find yourself deeply engrossed in every character, the main and the supporting. Dialogue is genuine, moments are real; you will find yourself moved to a multitude of emotions throughout the film's entirety. Well-crafted and meaningful, Gregory Goyins and his team of filmmakers have made a substantial piece of film that is surely the beginning of long-line of significant work to come.

Director Gregory Goyins latest masterpiece, The Dead Kid is a thoughtful meditation on the thin veneer that separates life and death, and upon which life, in all of it's fragile interconnectedness rests.Children become the perfect vehicle to explore the theme, not only because we've finally become witness to the danger and the harm of bullying, but because they are often the silent victims of the failures of the adults around them.

Seamlessly binding the terror of the Atlanta child murders into the story, a steady feeling of uneasiness parallels the disturbing events that surround the disappearance of Frankie Thomas, and the disarray and confusion that this creates in a small community. A sort of psychic trauma begins to envelope those involved, tilting reality askew and hinting that the sextant is not merely misaligned, but that the stars themselves have come disjointed. There are no isolated events in this universe as tragedy begins to self perpetuate. Artfully blurring the boundary between life and death, sanity and madness, The Dead Kid resonates powerfully as it hints at the fragility of a life and the web that binds us all.

It would be easy to see this film as a reflection on bullying, and it is that, most assuredly, but in this masterfully sensitive adaptation of Gillian King's short story, Director Greg Goyins again demonstrates a level of insight and command of the medium which is rare among young directors .

And so it is. After much promise--flashes of intelligence, isolated moments of brilliance--Goyins puts it all together in what is certainly his most mature film. Set in the early '80s, The Dead Kid relates the tragic story of an adolescent boy's disappearance in a small coastal town. It is told through the eyes of a same-aged girl (Mandalynn Carlson) whose growing awareness of the surrounding incidents (the boy was bullied by locals) provides a sturdy, empathetic core. Unabashedly literary (based on a short story by Gillian King, who shares screenplay credit), the film effortlessly moves through a nonlinear narrative space, interweaving first person narration with observational storytelling to create a dense, emotionally rich texture. The cinematography has a warm, glowing, nostalgic sheen, and every production detail is calibrated for maximum emotional effect. There are numerous felicitous touches (such as the "Greek chorus" of kids that ease the transitions between scenes) but the biggest revelation, at least to this viewer, is that Goyins proves himself, after the old soul world-weariness of After the Denim and the shocking body horror of Vitriolage, a sensitive director of children. But to say so doesn't convey the full effect of watching The Dead Kid. It has to be seen to be believed. Goyins and his team of collaborators have made a small classic that speaks to specific social issues (race, class, bullying, etc.) without neglecting the all important human element. In short, it is a major accomplishment.