Although I don't like making excuses for short films I do think it is worth pointing out in this short there is a lot of working things out going on; this is confirmed by it being a London Film Academy which I understand is a film school that teaches by doing and working rather than a more "school" approach. Anyway, I mention this because although there are nice aspects here, there is a lot of areas where it could have done better. The plot sees a young man drinking alone in his flat and taking pills; he clearly has something on his mind and even when he tries to relax in the bath, he thinks he hears voices or whispers. From here we have a ghost story where the focus is very much on the traditional sense of chill and creepiness that I generally prefer over gore or jump scares.
In terms of the plot it works well enough although the exposition dialogue towards the end is a little clunky, mostly the viewer is left with feelings and senses of what happened, which I liked. The feeling of presence is also well done, with space given to letting the viewer sit in the room with the main character and feel the silence and noises. The choice to have a Japanese ghost is perhaps a little derivative with Japanese horror film and subsequent remakes covering the look and approach well – but it does still work for me here as it is pretty well done and I am a sucker for that sort of thing. The edits from internal shots to external is nicely done too, as a device.
The problems with it are though that no aspect of it is really where it needs to be and again I understand that this comes with the territory. So with the plot there was room for the film to feel less derivative with some aspects, and also be stronger in the dialogue. The performances match this – they are good in the main but that final scene is a little stiff and the actors struggle. Technically the film looks rough but I think this was at least partly down to the copy I was watching since it was fuzzy and overly dark, but generally the shots are function but lack a bit of atmosphere. The sound is good but a bit too "on point"; hard for a layman like me to describe what I mean – but the sounds occasionally sit to the fore of the film, rather than being part of them – although this tended to be in movement noises etc, the "creepy" parts were not the same.
Mo Yin has its limitations for sure, because it does seem like a matter of people learning their craft – and learning it by things not working or seeing what could have been better at the end of the project. It does have a core of a good ghost story and for a short film it does just about enough to be worth a look as long as you do not expect it to be more than it is.
In terms of the plot it works well enough although the exposition dialogue towards the end is a little clunky, mostly the viewer is left with feelings and senses of what happened, which I liked. The feeling of presence is also well done, with space given to letting the viewer sit in the room with the main character and feel the silence and noises. The choice to have a Japanese ghost is perhaps a little derivative with Japanese horror film and subsequent remakes covering the look and approach well – but it does still work for me here as it is pretty well done and I am a sucker for that sort of thing. The edits from internal shots to external is nicely done too, as a device.
The problems with it are though that no aspect of it is really where it needs to be and again I understand that this comes with the territory. So with the plot there was room for the film to feel less derivative with some aspects, and also be stronger in the dialogue. The performances match this – they are good in the main but that final scene is a little stiff and the actors struggle. Technically the film looks rough but I think this was at least partly down to the copy I was watching since it was fuzzy and overly dark, but generally the shots are function but lack a bit of atmosphere. The sound is good but a bit too "on point"; hard for a layman like me to describe what I mean – but the sounds occasionally sit to the fore of the film, rather than being part of them – although this tended to be in movement noises etc, the "creepy" parts were not the same.
Mo Yin has its limitations for sure, because it does seem like a matter of people learning their craft – and learning it by things not working or seeing what could have been better at the end of the project. It does have a core of a good ghost story and for a short film it does just about enough to be worth a look as long as you do not expect it to be more than it is.