8 Jun 2012

Bradford Jesus ★★★☆☆



Review of 'Bradford Jesus' which can be found here or at MiShorts.

Length: 06:04
Directed by Bradford Foyer
Genre: Documentary
Date: 2012
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A group of young filmmakers try to hunt down the illusive Bradford Jesus. (A.K.A. the nutjob that lives in a cave and talks to God)

This starts off well and takes on an interesting subject for a doc. It keeps momentum until about mid point then descends into youth video-dom where pointless space fillers, repeated shots and more vox pops get rammed in to bursting point.

We manage to get a little glimpse into the Jesus man, though only from second hand sources, but it’s enough to make an audience want to know more. It was a shame that the crew didn’t get the man in person but they have done an okay job with what they did manage to get. The editor probably has to be commended for doing their best with the footage. Note a couple of shots that, for whatever reason, have been reversed.

The weakness comes when the film kind of stops being about the Bradford Jesus guy and suddenly becomes about the filmmaking team and their attempts to find him. (Was probably in the Department of Educations remit that the kids be in it or they wouldn’t fund the damn thing) Cue several shots of badly drawn posters, bog standard time lapses and poor attempts to engage with the general public.

Overall, this was a good exercise for budding young filmmakers. A lot of different camera techniques have been incorporated and several documentary elements covered. Probably worth a remake with a more thorough investigation into the subject.

Best Bit: The first 56 seconds.

Worst Bit: All the stuff in between 02:33 – 04:23

Final thought: The Department of Education will probably pat itself firmly on the back for that.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

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