A few months or so ago I attended a screening of "Lunar Girl", a micro budget feature being shown at the National Film Theatre, London, NFT1. It sounded like a children's film so I thought I'd take my 4 year old son along. It was a sunny day, it was by the Thames and the NFT is a fairly pleasant place to be. All of this influenced my decision as to whether I should go or not. I expected to see the usual half empty theatre and was surprised to see it almost full.
When it started I thought it was going to be just a vehicle for music although it had a sort of fairytale feel to it but this proved to be far from the truth. Once it reached the surreal doctors visit I knew my bum would stay on the seat. The dialogue was brilliant and unusual as was the story. I was amazed that first time film makers had the courage to tackle such subjects as the ones Lunar Girl did and not for a second did I guess the ending, part of which "Chilled me to the bone". Was my son OK? yes, he was loving it and was even singing along with the music; can't wait to buy the CD if there ever is one and there was such a good feeling in the place afterwards, everyone left with a little bit of magic in their hearts. I even bumped in to other mainstream filmmakers and they were crying, as were many of the audience; the acting was excellent. OK it wasn't technically perfect, it's a bit off the wall and a bit corny in places but how many films do you see that can pull at the heartstrings. So don't ignore even micro budget films, you just never know where the next gems are going to crop up, I can't wait to see their next one.
When it started I thought it was going to be just a vehicle for music although it had a sort of fairytale feel to it but this proved to be far from the truth. Once it reached the surreal doctors visit I knew my bum would stay on the seat. The dialogue was brilliant and unusual as was the story. I was amazed that first time film makers had the courage to tackle such subjects as the ones Lunar Girl did and not for a second did I guess the ending, part of which "Chilled me to the bone". Was my son OK? yes, he was loving it and was even singing along with the music; can't wait to buy the CD if there ever is one and there was such a good feeling in the place afterwards, everyone left with a little bit of magic in their hearts. I even bumped in to other mainstream filmmakers and they were crying, as were many of the audience; the acting was excellent. OK it wasn't technically perfect, it's a bit off the wall and a bit corny in places but how many films do you see that can pull at the heartstrings. So don't ignore even micro budget films, you just never know where the next gems are going to crop up, I can't wait to see their next one.
