The Manual

Overall I would say this is a great short movie and worth 30 minutes of your time. The cinematography is fantastic coming from such a small team and budget, there are beautiful compositions throughout and they are tied together by a great soundtrack. The movie does a solid job of creating a post apocalyptic world - It's not overdone or cheesy. It feels peaceful but lonely.

There are some flaws - The flow of the film is sometimes choppy between cuts, and the robot companion didn't make me feel invested or otherwise emotionally drawn in. J.J. Johnston did a solid job as the lead and had some great moments, although again, I didn't get a chance to become particularly invested in his character. The same goes for the story; it's very intriguing, but I never felt truly drawn in to it.

Will Magness has real potential as filmmaker and I very much hope this is the start of more to come. Although the movie didn't quite slot together perfectly, it still felt well refined and polished. It's not perfect but there is plenty of potential, I definitely want to see more of what Will can do.

Give this short a watch.