OK..so it's not Wong karwai or bertolucci...but it's heart is not bad.
it's well shot, simply designed and the choices are designed for the maximum emotional impact. It reminds me of Spielberg or Ron Howard's take on Asian cinema....the little girl is great, but her performance too monitored for emotional impact in my opinion. In some ways the politics of the film was less smug and pretentious than the Cannes competition film "Closer" that was also in the same screening.
the lighting is a bit too over the top at times -- as is the grand scale of the shots -- but nevertheless it's consistently handled and in my opinion, neither cloying or completely distasteful.
whoever gave the scathing review...I think you are being slightly unfair. The politics of the film is not bad...especially when compared with some other recent Australian shorts such as "Heartworm" and that one with the guy from Secret Life of Us "house of cards? names" that was playing at Melbourne film festival shorts.
