Since the only other reviewer of this short focused on a very small aspect of it and ignored most of its glaring insufficiencies, I have to break my rule of never reviewing a film if there already is an existing review.
First of all, there is NO voice over narration. This means that the viewer has no idea where and when this was filmed, of who the contestants are, of which countries they represent (noticeable in parts from the names on the back of the sweaters of their coaches), of who wins, of how they are scored and of on what basis points were awarded.
What you do get is a lot of foot banging on wooden boards as the contestants move towards one another sometimes with astonishing speed, supposedly trying to strike their opponent's body with their sword (sabre? Foil? Who knows?) Then, they tend to just stand still and look at one another (through their foil masks). What are they doing? We are never told.
Then, there is a disconcerting inconsistency of musical score. Sometimes sombre, it breaks into a honky-tonk jazz type sound while, for no reason whatsoever, the director thought the film should be speeded up so that the contestants were moving way faster than they actually did. Why? Who knows?
As someone knowing almost nothing about this sport, this short could have been much more informative while at the same time capturing the excitement of the encounters which, failing all other indications, I have to feel was what the director was going for..
First of all, there is NO voice over narration. This means that the viewer has no idea where and when this was filmed, of who the contestants are, of which countries they represent (noticeable in parts from the names on the back of the sweaters of their coaches), of who wins, of how they are scored and of on what basis points were awarded.
What you do get is a lot of foot banging on wooden boards as the contestants move towards one another sometimes with astonishing speed, supposedly trying to strike their opponent's body with their sword (sabre? Foil? Who knows?) Then, they tend to just stand still and look at one another (through their foil masks). What are they doing? We are never told.
Then, there is a disconcerting inconsistency of musical score. Sometimes sombre, it breaks into a honky-tonk jazz type sound while, for no reason whatsoever, the director thought the film should be speeded up so that the contestants were moving way faster than they actually did. Why? Who knows?
As someone knowing almost nothing about this sport, this short could have been much more informative while at the same time capturing the excitement of the encounters which, failing all other indications, I have to feel was what the director was going for..