This compilation of short films comes off the back of the Birmingham-based drama "1 Day" and does rather confirm my feelings about Penny Woolcock that she always have to have a sense of community art about her rather than just making films. It is this approach that made 1 Day stumble as a thriller because it did feel like she wanted it to be representative and real – which was a shame since as a crime thriller 1 Day was all about the negative aspects of that community. Anyway, since this was a sort of side project that came out of that main film, I was curious to see what it was all about.
The film consists of 10 short films made by members of the cast of 1 Day. So we have Urban Stereotypes, which is a look at someone who appears to be dropping drugs off on a set round; Joel, which follows one of the cast to an audition for acting school; Musical Therapy, which looks at the small studio run by Justice for women who have been victims of domestic abuse; Flex n'X, which is about assumptions based on looks; Exclusion, which is documentary about children excluded from school; Post Code, which is about the post code wars in Birmingham; If We Had One More Day, which is a monologue to a grave of a former friend killed in gang violence; Love on the Streets, which is an attempt to gauge impressions of love on the streets of Brum; Live to Ride, a look at the love of the motorbike and then Five Year Mystery, which is a community group talking about aspirations. All the films are briefly introduced by those that made them.
As with many community film projects, the heart is definitely in the right place but it is hard then to exercise quality control once you have said "just go make your projects". This is not to say that nobody has a guiding or editorial hand but you do have to take what you get. The first thing to say is that, unlike 1 Day, all of these films are either thoughtful or positive; where violence is the topic it is always a negative thing and mostly the films focus on rising up, not sinking low. The problem is that they are mostly a little bit obvious and simple – a problem with the 3 minute run time they each have and also the amateurs behind them. He best example of this is "Five Year Mystery" which does have its heart in the right place but the contributions feel a little pat – like what is being said isn't natural and is a little bit of what they felt should be said.
Conversely though I really liked Live to Ride, not because I like bikes (I don't) but because everyone is genuine, real and has passion for the subject. Others are a little worthy but are still interesting – in particular Exclusion is really good and could have been great with a few more minutes to work with. I liked the honesty of Joel and the content of Musical Therapy while both Post code and One More Day had solid poems from the heart in both. Love on The Streets doesn't seem to have much of an idea or goal beyond that one "walk slowly in black & white" shot while Urban Stereotypes and Flex were a little too obvious.
All in all this was an interesting little community project off the back of the film 1 Day. Only a couple of the shorts are good enough to stand up on their own but as a whole they make for an OK project that is interesting to those that live in Birmingham and saw 1 Day: outside of those groups though I would have to say that the appeal is probably reduced by the content.
The film consists of 10 short films made by members of the cast of 1 Day. So we have Urban Stereotypes, which is a look at someone who appears to be dropping drugs off on a set round; Joel, which follows one of the cast to an audition for acting school; Musical Therapy, which looks at the small studio run by Justice for women who have been victims of domestic abuse; Flex n'X, which is about assumptions based on looks; Exclusion, which is documentary about children excluded from school; Post Code, which is about the post code wars in Birmingham; If We Had One More Day, which is a monologue to a grave of a former friend killed in gang violence; Love on the Streets, which is an attempt to gauge impressions of love on the streets of Brum; Live to Ride, a look at the love of the motorbike and then Five Year Mystery, which is a community group talking about aspirations. All the films are briefly introduced by those that made them.
As with many community film projects, the heart is definitely in the right place but it is hard then to exercise quality control once you have said "just go make your projects". This is not to say that nobody has a guiding or editorial hand but you do have to take what you get. The first thing to say is that, unlike 1 Day, all of these films are either thoughtful or positive; where violence is the topic it is always a negative thing and mostly the films focus on rising up, not sinking low. The problem is that they are mostly a little bit obvious and simple – a problem with the 3 minute run time they each have and also the amateurs behind them. He best example of this is "Five Year Mystery" which does have its heart in the right place but the contributions feel a little pat – like what is being said isn't natural and is a little bit of what they felt should be said.
Conversely though I really liked Live to Ride, not because I like bikes (I don't) but because everyone is genuine, real and has passion for the subject. Others are a little worthy but are still interesting – in particular Exclusion is really good and could have been great with a few more minutes to work with. I liked the honesty of Joel and the content of Musical Therapy while both Post code and One More Day had solid poems from the heart in both. Love on The Streets doesn't seem to have much of an idea or goal beyond that one "walk slowly in black & white" shot while Urban Stereotypes and Flex were a little too obvious.
All in all this was an interesting little community project off the back of the film 1 Day. Only a couple of the shorts are good enough to stand up on their own but as a whole they make for an OK project that is interesting to those that live in Birmingham and saw 1 Day: outside of those groups though I would have to say that the appeal is probably reduced by the content.