Sick Product of a Sick System

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"The Karman line" is a BAFTA-nominated 24-minute short film from last year starring Olivia Colman. The rest of the cast I don't know unfortunately. You could probably call it a fantasy or even science fiction movie with the contents of the female main character steadily increasing. But it's really much more of a drama and how a family deals with losing a loved one. The acting is good by everybody involved, the writing and directing by Oscar Sharp is convincing too. Lets hope he can build a career on this in the long run, he has been fairly prolific with short films so far only. I thought this was convincing in terms of drama and emotion and even had some pretty great moments, so all in all, I certainly recommend it.

This was not in the least offensive. I just loss my wife, five weeks ago and the kids lost their mum. I could relate to much of it - the adjustments, preparing for the worst, the eventual loss...But for some it may prove a difficult watch.And this is why I don't like reviewing movies on this site. The idea of being forced to make ten lines is silly. It's just using words for their own sake. This is a 24 minute 'short' and what I wrote in those first four lines is apparently not enough.Now I'm looking for two more lines.So I can reach the minimum.

This film is not one for fans of cinema who like to be afforded their own interpretation of a film, for this film SCREAMS at you from beginning to end. Everything is overt. There is not subtly - "You WILL feel THIS way" says Oscar Sharpe.As somebody who lost their Father to cancer a long time ago, I found this film deeply offensive and emotionally manipulative, playing on the weight of cancer on all family members. This could have been interesting, but sadly it was frankly saccharine and silly. Why this is BAFTA nominated I will never know. Good riddance to Virgin Media shorts and the hubris it bred.

The Karman Line is a rare delight-- a film both truly poignant and humorous. A treasure of a short film, it uses magical realism to gracefully navigate the issue of losing a family member. The performances are universally excellent, and support a compelling story. I had the privilege of seeing The Karman Line at South by Southwest film festival in March, 2014. Out of several dozen superb short films (and I believe over 1,300 submissions), it was one of the best. The story and pacing were compelling, it did not lag for a moment or succumb to the two common weaknesses of even the strongest short films: the "plot twist/joke ending" or "random slice of life trail off." Instead, the film had narrative integrity and ended with the same grace with which it began. The gently evolving character development and pacing were satisfying, and made me feel like I had seen a good feature length film. It was quirky without being pretentious, emotional without being melodramatic. I am not usually a fan of magical realism, but the heightened reality that shines through this film is why we make the enormous effort to make good film, in any genre. As a filmmaker and actor this is exactly the sort of team I would love to work with. This is a film with heart. See it.