POTENTIALLY GOOD SHORT DESCENDS INTO DULL FORMULA

Grace Chua

Vasanta Mala

Neil McCormack

Rene Mohandas

A meeting of minds. A simple kiss. A simple wish. A young Glaswegian care worker, Fraser falls in love with an elderly Japanese lady, Miss Kaori, who he helps to look after. She tells him stories about when she was young and he pi...

Wish

&apos;Wish&apos;, the story of a young care worker who becomes increasingly drawn into the past of the elderly Chinese woman he&apos;s looking after, contains some very nice, atmospheric and cinematic moments, but is unfortunately yet another example of how seemingly every British (or, more accurately, Scottish) short film has to resort to dull cod-social realism in the quest for a &apos;gritty&apos; feel. Does everyone in Scotland live on a run-down council estate? I don&apos;t think so, but Scottish Screen and the &apos;Cineworks&apos; production fund that bankrolled &apos;Wish&apos; would probably want you to think so.

Which is a shame, because, in the flashback sequences set in the woman&apos;s past in China, &apos;Wish&apos; becomes a totally different film. The director probably thought that conflicting these scenes with handheld, gritty realism would have some kind of increased dramatic impetus, but instead it just drags a potentially interesting, eloquent short down into predictable, dull, depressing formula. We&apos;ve seen all of this many, many times before, and we&apos;ll see it again, and again, and again......(** out of *****)

'Wish', the story of a young care worker who becomes increasingly drawn into the past of the elderly Chinese woman he's looking after, contains some very nice, atmospheric and cinematic moments, but is unfortunately yet another example of how seemingly every British (or, more accurately, Scottish) short film has to resort to dull cod-social realism in the quest for a 'gritty' feel. Does everyone in Scotland live on a run-down council estate? I don't think so, but Scottish Screen and the 'Cineworks' production fund that bankrolled 'Wish' would probably want you to think so.

Which is a shame, because, in the flashback sequences set in the woman's past in China, 'Wish' becomes a totally different film. The director probably thought that conflicting these scenes with handheld, gritty realism would have some kind of increased dramatic impetus, but instead it just drags a potentially interesting, eloquent short down into predictable, dull, depressing formula. We've seen all of this many, many times before, and we'll see it again, and again, and again......(** out of *****)

A meeting of minds. A simple kiss. A simple wish. A young Glaswegian care worker, Fraser falls in love with an elderly Japanese lady, Miss Kaori, who he helps to look after. She tells him stories about when she was young and he pictures himself with her in Japan. In reality, Fraser's feelings towards Kaori become sullied by the merciless taunting of local kids and the fact that Fraser already has a girlfriend his own age.

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Wish

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