MovieChat Forums > Black Pond (2011) Discussion > feels like a film school assignment

feels like a film school assignment

posted 12 years ago by salmo365
1 reply | jump to latest

I dont know who made this, what their funding was like, but it was very amatuerish in feel. It wasn't bad, nothing shockingly awful, but neither was it entertaining, adult or polished.

Even accepting it for an indie flick, it just lacked something.

Langham was surely cast because they thought it would generate headlines, good or bad but he just lacked something and was phoning it in. The same with Amstell, he clearly did his cameo in one afternoon, probably as a favour to a mate and I wasnt really sure what the point of his character was.

There was no story arc, you were clearly suposed to have already read the DVD cover and we were just there to see how it unfurled.

Very disapointing really.

[–] Krustallos 10 years ago

I thought Chris Langham was really good here in fact. I agree that Simon Amstell was rubbish (much as I like him elsewhere) and his part could and in my view should have been cut out entirely.

I know what you mean about the film school aspect, but I thought it rose above that eventually and there was a lot of interesting and real stuff in there.

Apparently the budget was £25k, so the actors were probably working for practically nothing. Given that, they did a fine job, with great enthusiasm. Langham was probably cast because they could get him really cheaply, rather than for notoriety, and I think they got real value for money out of him, to his credit.

I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.