This was a wonderful little film and I can certainly understand why it received the Best Live Action Short Oscar. The film was clever and entertaining throughout.
The film begins with a lady leaving her farm in South Dakota to go to New York City to visit her daughter. It's obvious that this lady is like a fish out of water and she seems very intimidated by such a big and scary city. This feeling is made worse by a nasty cab driver, beggars on the street AND the fact that a biker gang ("Satan's Disciples") has a clubhouse right across from her daughter's flat.
When she tries to go out on her own site seeing, the lady is too scared by her surroundings to go out the first day and just stays home alone while the daughter works.
The second day works out much better, and you see a montage (poorly done, by the way) of her seeing all the sites in the city. However, when she returns home she can't find the key and doesn't know what to do. In a panic, she calls her daughter. A bit later, the Disciples come to her assistance! The next day, the old lady shows some spunk and instead of going site seeing, she heads over to the club house to meet the gang. Part of this is out of curiosity and part of this is because she's afraid for her daughter's safety. She also ventures to ask if she can even come inside and see what it's like!! What happens next, you should just see for yourself--it's worth it.
Overall, an exceptionally good story made better by a wonderful performance by the mother. The only quibble, and it is tiny, is the montage (which I mentioned above). It was a big cliché and even as a cliché it was handled poorly (with grainy old stock, superimposed images and far too many sites for any one person to see in two days--let alone one). If this part had been done better the film would have earned a 10. But, it's still a heck of a good film.
The film begins with a lady leaving her farm in South Dakota to go to New York City to visit her daughter. It's obvious that this lady is like a fish out of water and she seems very intimidated by such a big and scary city. This feeling is made worse by a nasty cab driver, beggars on the street AND the fact that a biker gang ("Satan's Disciples") has a clubhouse right across from her daughter's flat.
When she tries to go out on her own site seeing, the lady is too scared by her surroundings to go out the first day and just stays home alone while the daughter works.
The second day works out much better, and you see a montage (poorly done, by the way) of her seeing all the sites in the city. However, when she returns home she can't find the key and doesn't know what to do. In a panic, she calls her daughter. A bit later, the Disciples come to her assistance! The next day, the old lady shows some spunk and instead of going site seeing, she heads over to the club house to meet the gang. Part of this is out of curiosity and part of this is because she's afraid for her daughter's safety. She also ventures to ask if she can even come inside and see what it's like!! What happens next, you should just see for yourself--it's worth it.
Overall, an exceptionally good story made better by a wonderful performance by the mother. The only quibble, and it is tiny, is the montage (which I mentioned above). It was a big cliché and even as a cliché it was handled poorly (with grainy old stock, superimposed images and far too many sites for any one person to see in two days--let alone one). If this part had been done better the film would have earned a 10. But, it's still a heck of a good film.