Beanbioca
As Good As It Gets
PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Ezmae Chang
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
athomeglass
Great short story. Music was awesome and fit to the core. Acting was superb, the whole story and production just top notch. They need to do a kick starter, I would donate to see this get developed more !!!!
jeffchan
Excellent writing, acting, casting, cinematography, effects makes this short SF film an excellent calling card for writer/director Karel van Bellingen. Script cleanup by Sheridan Thomas may have contributed to a very tight result. Better than most of what comes out of Hollywood, the writing reminds me a bit of some of the best SF short story authors such as Heinlein who could create highly descriptive worlds and backstories with just a word or two. For example, "clubs" run by criminal syndicates offer services that include prostitution. The very lean dialogue manages to explain this in a couple brief sentences. Other plot devices are very tidy and efficient, but then they need to be in a 30 minute piece.It's definitely a dystopian future for the left-behinds on Earth, with a murderously-repressive yet at the same time ineffectual central government.Casting also stood out with just the right looks and screen personalities for the roles. The bland and ineffective bureaucrat spouting broad platitudes on the telly had the right look, accent and delivery for the role.A clever twist and lots of morality play makes this a thoughtful and fun short. It's superbly well done.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The Leap" is a futuristic science fiction short film from 2 years ago (2015) that was directed and co-written by Belgian filmmaker (most of the time editor, actually) Karel van Bellingen. It runs for half an hour and plays almost 70 years in the future, actually the year when I would have my 100th birthday. Anyway, this one here is the story of a fateful encounter between a cop and a prostitute that results in a great deal of action and drama as well, and bloodshed. Science fiction is generally not too much of my genre, so a film would have to be really good to make a lasting impression on me. this one here doesn't, neither in terms of the action (with that I mean plot, I don't care about effects) nor in terms of the acting sadly. So yeah if you love the genre more than I do, then maybe you can check it out. It is not a failure by any means and there is a decent moment here and there. Also thumbs up for the attempt at emotion the filmmaker goes for here. Still I must say I am not too curious about any of van Bellingen's other works and I am also not yet sold that he can make an impact in terms of full feature films soon. But who knows, he is still young and can step his game up possibly. This one here, one of his most known works, gets a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended.
Erik P
A short (30min) sci-fi film doesn't give much time for plot or character development but fundamentally it is like a great short story. The acting is fine and the characters interesting. Basically draws up some questions about the feelings of a border force policeman who is about to retire - guilt, value of his life etc. There is a 'new earth' that many hope to go to (and he hopes to retire to) where everything is expected to be great, but meanwhile people are struggling to survive on the original earth in a post industrial setting. Obviously nobody likes this border force because they kill lots of people hoping to make it to new earth.Effects are excellent, especially considering it is only a 30 min film. Could easily be made into a full length film, and would probably be better in that format, allowing greater character development, especially between the two main protagonists. However, there aren't really loose ends, everything ties well together, and although there is a 'twist' it is pretty predictable, though doesn't take away from the general sentiment of the story: even in a rough world people aren't all bad.P.S. there is some blood and guns, so for an adult audience, but it is not gratuitous (I hate overly violent films, and this isn't one)
