As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Tin God is an interesting indie film which benefits from mostly strong performances, especially from Whitney Duff as the enigmatic Sasha. It is somewhat hampered by a shoestring budget and less than ideal shooting location (it was filmed in a regional town), but if you can look past these elements it tells an interesting story about a handful of angst-filled young adults. Anyone who was melancholy in their early 20s will likely find something to relate to in these characters. Director Jake Reedy shows some promise and raw talent in his shot selection and generally does his best to conceal the tiny budget and quiet location and maintain the atmosphere. To his credit, the film possesses a strong noirish tone, with flawed characters coming into conflict during their grimy lives.

A good attempt from first time director Jake Reedy. Vision and talent are there, execution not quite so much. An attention getting intro is quickly undone by long, tedious scenes of Tana Smith's Ethan moping around, making sympathy for such a self absorbed character hard to muster; Things pick up when Whitney Duff's Sasha is introduced, mainly due to her ability to hold the screen. Smith and Duff have great chemistry,which Reedy uses in his favor to play their blossoming relationship with all the hotblooded tension of young lust.More of Ethan being emo. In fact, Ethan may be the lead, but his screen time is almost detrimental to the other characters. Both Sasha and Benjamin James Doolan's Jesse are interesting characters, but never seem to be lavished with enough character moments to flesh them out. The few they do have are quite well done, such as Sasha's self loathing shower scene and Jesse's post coital confession, but there's only so many moody moments of Ethan sulking in his bedroom we can stand.Around the halfway point, Tin God does pick and hit the gas, with some great scenes between Ethan and Sasha, Ethan and Jesse, the neo doco/noir/grunge style really begins to work and it limps toward being a solid film. The music works with the camera to build mood and the film focuses on it's 3 leads. It's just a shame you have to suffer through the dawdling first half to get to the goods. Had the fat been trimmed from the start, this would have been a very solid film, but long, pointlessly moody scenes of nothing mixed with pointless characters ;I am still wondering what the point of Ethans friend Cas was; and dull 'character' scenes makes for an uneven film. One must wonder if Reedy slept through the first half of the edit, and awoke to put together a stylish final act. On the whole, better than some Independent fare Queensland film producers have thrown at us, but still not quite there. Shows potential which could improve with experience

Script/Plot; Extremely well written. A really good and fresh take on the love triangle story. Defies convention and the usual traps of cliché well, very heavily influenced by mid 1990 indie cinema. Films like The Doom Generation, Best Laid Plans, The Last Time I Committed Suicide, etc had a big influence on this film. Snappy dialogue delivered with varying skill from the cast, deep character development that comes off with mixed results.Cast: Performances range from great to awful. While the three protagonists were well cast for first time actors, supporting and extra roles are a mixed bag of average to awful. Scenes that could be great fall flat due to lazy, unskilled performances from supporting cast. When there are strong actors in the lead three slots, it's essential that the supporting cast can at least match them. The best example I can give is the confrontation between Ethan and his friend Cass. If performed By an actor that could match Ethan's intensity, the scene would have been explosive. Instead it plays out like a half hearted attempt to be edgy and falls flat. Compare this scene to Ethan and Sasha's alley way confrontation, which positively explodes with fury and tension, played to the hilt by both actors. The material is there, to be sure, yet the ability to realize it's potential is not present among some cast. This ultimately stops the character of Cass from having the presence in the story she should have had. Other supporting actors fall flat as well. Direction and cinematography: Very resourceful for a film shot on such a micro budget. The director squeezes every dollar he can on to screen and makes up for his lack of finance with some very creative camera work and lighting. His choice of locations adds atmosphere and fits the tone of the story he is trying to tell perfectly. Obviously a director of some raw talent, he does the best with what he has and is hindered by limited resources; Though he makes what he does have work, for the most part. Cinematography is better than the average independent film fare. Creative angles and a faux documentary feel work in the films favor most of the time, only faltering toward the start of the film.Editing and Sound: Editing takes some time to find it's feet here, but settles into the style around the half four mark. Some scenes meander and plod at the start, notably the scene at the lookout which has some beautiful shots yet some dreadful edits, and the scene at the coffee house which is very superfluous to the story. The sound is good, something that is often a point of contention with independently produced films. The soundtrack is quite fitting of the mood, particularly in the scenes leading up to the confrontation between the three main characters in the car park. From the point of Sasha and Jesse's conversation on the stairs until the end is, I believe, where Tin God shows the true potential and ability of all involved. Those scenes are where you can see that cast and crew were entirely in sync and the whole film works. Packaging: A striking and attention getting front cover for the DVD, let down by a bare bones disc. No extras, which is disappointing, I would very much like to hear a commentary track or see some interviews, perhaps even a 'making of' featurette.In summary, A good little first effort with some problems that experience and money will no doubt correct. The talent of the three lead actors and the director carries the film and makes it a cut above most low budget Queensland productions this reviewer has seen. 5 out of 10.

I cannot believe that this movie, Tin God, for under 10 thousand dollars, I have read that it was between 3 to 5 thousand ,is as good as it is and made it all the way to Cannes and onto shelves across Australia. What an achievement! I live in Toowoomba and remember a few years ago when this was being filmed, I saw these guys shooting at Wyalla Plaza in the rain and wondered what was going on. Who knew a few years later I'd be watching it!I love seeing indie Australian movies and this is as good as any American indie film. It's dark, funny, shocking and real. There's a few boring bits at the start but that's okay, It really gets going and starts to pull you into to the ****ed up life these characters lead. The Acting is really good and the actor that plays Ethan is really amazing. He really goes full psycho in some scenes and you wonder if he's gonna lose it. And when he does, he really loses it. And the actress that plays Sasha was really good too, I had a crush on her by the end of the movie and the scene where she loses it at the end when Ethan walks away was really sad and raw. Another standout moment was where Jesse tells Sasha about the kid he nearly beat to death in high school. It was a really good acting scene from Jesse and really sucked me in and made me feel sorry for his character, cause up until then you think he's kind of a jerk.I think Tin God is great because it really inspired me to do my own movies. Jake Reedy was really smart the way he made this because he did some cool stuff with his camera work and got really good actors to make the film. Lots of times the acting in indie movies is pretty bad, but in Tin God it's really good. The writing was excellent too, the way the actors all spoke like real people. To make this for under 5 thousand dollars, He is a really smart and talented film director and really deserves his success. I really hope to see the actors in other movies soon, because they are really talented.I really hope more people watch this movie, especially Toowoomba people because this was made in our town and it really deserves to be seen. Greg