This short is simply brilliant. A tight little satire that manages to muse on the declining standards of customer services and our acceptance of such, our perverted relationship to product hype and pervasiveness in our lives at the same time as poking fun at both reasonable and paranoid assessment of our vulnerability to malevolent corporations and crossing that line into complete dependency.
(Mild Spoiler here)Probably the most delightful touch of all might not have been predicted - the computer equipment at the centre is intentionally ridiculous but the story doesn't bother referencing the cutting edge in computers themselves at all, instead focussing on complaint correspondence. This has the added benefit of making it still watchable today. Referencing what phones or laptops or real companies were considered cutting edge at the time would have aged it straight away and their absence does the opposite.
What makes the film is the tone, balancing the silly drama and the distancing style. As the previous review suggests some people consider the start to be the best bit but the rest not making the most of the potential of the idea. Personally I take it that everything in it (right down to the super low quality effects in the middle) is deliberate and only taken as far as needs to be. The nuanced touches, some completely daft, some so subtle they initially don't seem out of place at all, are brilliant. And added to that it's delightful viewing for anyone who loves spotting the incestuousness of British comedy casting, which might be considered unusual for a short if this were not Linehan's baby.
(Mild Spoiler here)Probably the most delightful touch of all might not have been predicted - the computer equipment at the centre is intentionally ridiculous but the story doesn't bother referencing the cutting edge in computers themselves at all, instead focussing on complaint correspondence. This has the added benefit of making it still watchable today. Referencing what phones or laptops or real companies were considered cutting edge at the time would have aged it straight away and their absence does the opposite.
What makes the film is the tone, balancing the silly drama and the distancing style. As the previous review suggests some people consider the start to be the best bit but the rest not making the most of the potential of the idea. Personally I take it that everything in it (right down to the super low quality effects in the middle) is deliberate and only taken as far as needs to be. The nuanced touches, some completely daft, some so subtle they initially don't seem out of place at all, are brilliant. And added to that it's delightful viewing for anyone who loves spotting the incestuousness of British comedy casting, which might be considered unusual for a short if this were not Linehan's baby.