Lil' Superman
08/06/13 21:45 Filed in: Reviews
Originally published in the Sunday Guardian's Sunday Arts Magazine for June 09, 2013
A still from Captain T&T, Christopher Guiness' new short film.
Christopher Guinness is shaping up to become our cinematic Norman Rockwell. His short films, offered for free online via Vimeo, are suffused with a warm nostalgic glow and a yearning for the way things were that would be cloying if it didn’t all ring so true.
In Guinness’ Captain T&T, a recollection of the late 70’s and 80’s, mean, wicked folks were met by courage, conviction and no small measure of innocent enthusiasm.
By now everyone in the country has seen Pothound, his almost perfectly charming story of puppy love that was voted a 2012 Vimeo Awards Finalist and won a basketful of short film awards
His newest film also features a dog, but shifts the aspirational focus to a boy who I can’t help thinking is more autobiographical memoir than fond reminiscence.
Guiness also packs in the threat of animal cruelty, fantasy filtered through a child’s eyes and giant dollops of sweetly sentimental advice on living together.
The most obvious similarity between the two, though, is the large number of worm’s eye view shots in the 12 minute film.
“In Pothound it was to take you into the world of the dog,” Guiness explained. “To see things from her perspective. I fell in love with the aesthetic though, so it's very present in Captain T&T. It's intimate yet somewhat voyeuristic, the ant on the floor to the fly on the wall.”
The filmmaker hopes that his viewers will come away moved to “Be nicer. Be kinder. Be a better person. Be the hero of your life.”
If they do, it will be because Guiness decided to fight for justice with the superpowers he was born with.
Find the new film, already a Vimeo Staff Pick, here.
Related: An extended interview with director Christopher Guiness.
A still from Captain T&T, Christopher Guiness' new short film.
Christopher Guinness is shaping up to become our cinematic Norman Rockwell. His short films, offered for free online via Vimeo, are suffused with a warm nostalgic glow and a yearning for the way things were that would be cloying if it didn’t all ring so true.
In Guinness’ Captain T&T, a recollection of the late 70’s and 80’s, mean, wicked folks were met by courage, conviction and no small measure of innocent enthusiasm.
By now everyone in the country has seen Pothound, his almost perfectly charming story of puppy love that was voted a 2012 Vimeo Awards Finalist and won a basketful of short film awards
His newest film also features a dog, but shifts the aspirational focus to a boy who I can’t help thinking is more autobiographical memoir than fond reminiscence.
Guiness also packs in the threat of animal cruelty, fantasy filtered through a child’s eyes and giant dollops of sweetly sentimental advice on living together.
The most obvious similarity between the two, though, is the large number of worm’s eye view shots in the 12 minute film.
“In Pothound it was to take you into the world of the dog,” Guiness explained. “To see things from her perspective. I fell in love with the aesthetic though, so it's very present in Captain T&T. It's intimate yet somewhat voyeuristic, the ant on the floor to the fly on the wall.”
The filmmaker hopes that his viewers will come away moved to “Be nicer. Be kinder. Be a better person. Be the hero of your life.”
If they do, it will be because Guiness decided to fight for justice with the superpowers he was born with.
Find the new film, already a Vimeo Staff Pick, here.
Related: An extended interview with director Christopher Guiness.
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