Goodbye to the Normals (2006) User Reviews

Very simple story--but done with great deliveries

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 9 May 2008]

This is an odd little film that becomes very watchable thanks to the deliveries by the actors. The idea of a very little boy running away from home is a very simple idea, but how the child delivers the clever lines and his father's non-plussed reaction make this very quirky and smart. Magnus (the little boy) gives one of the best performances by a child act I've seen in ages--delivering the lines like a small adult, not a kid. If Magnus had been 25, what he said would have seemed normal and not especially interesting--from what appears to be a 5 year-old, the lines are brilliant. About the only negative was the kid cursing at the end. I am a bit of a prude, but having little kids cuss for a laugh seemed a bit cheap and totally unlike the spirit of the rest of this innocent film. Still, despite this small complaint, this is well worth seeing and is a short film I won't soon forget!

A sketch of a film but as amusing as it is brief

[bob the moo · 22 December 2006]

Magnus is only a young boy but he has decided to run away to America of all places. His mother has given up so it is left to his father to try and talk him out of it but it does rather seem that young Magnus has already made his mind up.

Screened separately and together on television and widely available on the internet, this short film was one of several that were commissioned by Robbie Williams to help promote his new album Rudebox. None of the shorts were videos but they were all standalone short films "inspired" by a song off the album but always intended to exist in their own right. Although it is a rather literal take on the Williams song, the short film works best if you just buy into it. The scenario of this tiny child leaving his home behind him is so absurd that it is hard not to get into it and find it funny.

The cast help make it. Furst is good while Cowan doesn't have much to do, but it is the child playing Magnus that makes it as he does manage to come across so grown up while also never being anything other than a child. As director Field-Smith didn't do anything that really marked him out for me but his handling of the central scene in the front room was good (and clever close shots on Furst compared to the higher and wider shots of Magnus).

Overall then a simple idea that is used to produce an enjoyable and amusing sketch-like short film. Worth a look as, for three minutes, it did tickle me somewhat.