The Sunshine State (2012) User Reviews

An Abrupt Halt

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 5 March 2014]

young man exits from a bar one dark night in Australia . An old man asks him to give him a lift to the sunshine State of Queensland . . Instinctively going against his better judgement the young man gives him a lift and starts wondering if he's made a mistake

Another short film and this one is about a journey rather a destination which sums up THE SUNSHINE STATE perfectly because it doesn't really go anywhere . It's one of those stories that taps in to the fear of finding yourself very much alone with a stranger who could do you serious harm . What I did find interesting is that the young man - who despite being called Tom on this page synopsis is unnamed on screen and in the credits - exits an establishment drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette . Someone smoking is an occurrence rarely seen in film in general these days and short film in particular and the fact someone is drinking alcohol before getting behind the wheel of the car lead me to believe that the audiences sympathy for the young man is being tested but this aspect remains somewhat unexplored and I don't think the story is sophisticated enough to make it look like we're supposed to feel irritation towards the young man then suddenly feel empathy that he might be in danger . The film also comes to a complete stop that left me thinking that THE SUNSHINE STATE is ultimately pointless

Good tension with the hostility under the surface, but doesn't totally satisfy in the conclusion

[bob the moo · 23 June 2014]

A young man is preparing to drive up to Brisbane overnight. As he heads to his car from the bar he is approached by an older bloke looking to catch a ride with him. Reluctantly he accepts but as they drive together the bit of banter starts to have more of an edge to it.

There is an engaging sense of tension to this short film as it plays with male relationships, in particular the edge to offensive banter where one cannot always be sure if everything is really being spoken in jest or not. That the film does well as we see the atypical old bloke having a bit of a chat but clearly not totally liking the younger man or the situation where he needs the younger man's help. I have been in a similar situation with an intimidating guy where he is joking about Northern Irish people but there was an edge to what he was saying where I could tell it could go further if not careful. So it is here and for this I enjoyed the majority of the film. The problem with it is that we don't really have as much exploration of that as I would have liked and as a narrative it doesn't offer much of a frame for this to occur within.

The ending is abrupt and it doesn't totally satisfy, although this is perhaps more to do with the narrative more than the specific nature of the ending. In the context of what had gone before it did work reasonably well, but I think my issue was that, while it did do the hostility in the banter thing well, it didn't offer much else, so when the ending came, it did come with a feeling of "is that it?" which is a shame. It is nicely made and it engages in what it does well, I just found there was too much where I looked for more and found nothing in particular.