Año Perdido - Lost Year - A film made in Argentina

[Delicia Producciones]

Hey Guys, sorry for this late post of the film´s poster.

My name is Federico Panizza and I directed this little movie with my friend Monica Arista.



Little Synopsis of the film:

Two families are celebrating New Year´s dinner. Suddenly, a bad and impulsive action transforms a happy moment into an unfortunate episode.

Sorry for the mistakes in the subtitles!...

Hope you enjoy it,

F&M.-

[killamill]

Hey Federico,

Nice film dude, it´s been a long time. I really liked the atmospheres and the contrasts between the families!... Overall very good acting!...

A.-

[dvpixl]

I just saw the film - without reading your little synopsis- and I'm glad I didn't because I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. very well played out and effective plot.

great job Federico!

[Tim Joy]

Whoa! So natural. I was transported into your world and taken out to dinner. I didn't feel like I was seeing actors, I was seeing people emoting.
The B&W and your photography looked great.
I like the message too. It has always seemed like a stupid thing to do, and you show why.

At first, I didn't understand that these were two different families, probably because I was busy reading subtitles. It could maybe use a little more time before the hit. Seemed a little fast, but other than that, I loved it.

Congrats on a solid entry! Your first?

[Chris Messineo]

This was really quite powerful.

It was a little slow going at first, but I loved the juxtaposition of these two families and the reveal that they are neighbors. The ending is haunting.

Very well done.

[Blaine]

Wow, only 4 reviews. This is a little jewel.

I generally find it a distraction reading subtitles while trying to watch what's unfolding on the screen. In this case, it wasn't too bad and I was able to work my way through it.

I didn't read your synopsis before I watched this so I had no idea where it was going. A couple of times I felt lost but you pulled it all together at the end. Good job. You did a good job of giving me a glimpse into the two worlds and left me wanting more.

There were a few things that bothered me, the biggest being the use of rack focus. It became distracting as I didn't feel it was particularly motivated. You would have been better served in this case going with a deep focus.

The other thing was: (SPOILER)
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.
.
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I would have liked to seen a longer beat between the gunshot and the man falling dead. Not too much but enough to drive home what happened


For me, this is the best foreign language movie I've seen in a DVX User Fest. A nice little gem. I hope you get a lot more views because you deserve it.

[Delicia Producciones]

Hey guys, thank you so much for the kind words. Honestly I didn´t have to much time to work on the "clean cut" and every observation is very valuable. They were real actors, but we wanted to do it like yeehaanow said, natural.

Answering also your question, yes. It is the first shortfilm I directed.

dvpixl, Chris and Blaine... thank you 2 for taking your time watching this little movie and writing something of it.

I already downloaded all the films and I´ll do a proper review of your threads very soon. All I can say now is good luck to everybody, and it´s really nice to be a part of this festival.

Thank you,

Fede.-

[pia12254]

Fede,

I also watched this film and was impressed by it! As others have said it felt very real/natural. The setting, the acting, everything!

I had not read the synopsis before watching it so I was also slightly confused at times about the two different families but halfway through the film I had figured it out.

The only critique I would have has already been mentioned...a longer cut between the bullet being fired and it hitting the guy. Also, a little sound design of the bullet coming in and hitting (subtle) could help sell what happened.

But overall thought you did a great job! And the black and white looked fantastic (a hard thing to pull off!

Daniel

[Skribbleman]

I too am surprised that there aren't more comments on this thread. Your actors were very natural and believable. I'm glad I didn't get a chance to read your synopsis because it allowed me to enjoy your storytelling without knowing what the outcome would be. You did a great job on this. Please let your cast know they did a great job as well.

[orchidsofwrath]

acting was awesome... so much so that I felt like I was watching a family eat dinner... This film was slow though. Way slow it was hard to watch through for me. It also kinda seemed more like a public service announcement commercial than some kind of thematic message. Kinda like "only you can prevent forest fires" or something.

EDIT:
Oh and almost forgot why the HECK did you put it in black and white? I see absolutely no artistic benefit in terms of telling your story? B&W hides alot of mistakes/imperfections in the color and all together adds contrast, and sometimes makes people feel like their being more artsy... I hope that wasn't the reason you changed your film to B&W.

Sorry I crit harsh somtimes. It really was a good attempt. You nailed some of the technical stuff. Audio sounded pretty good to me. and obviously acting was spot on.