Far Out (2015) User Reviews

Great Work

[mariska-tanuarto · 7/10 · 27 September 2015]

This is simply an honest feedback from me, who also learn about media art and design quite a bit and have watch numerous movies, doing stage art direction and filming in Emily Carr University. Again, I'm comparing yours to a Hollywood movie, which is understandable with such a limited budget it won't make a good comparison, but still, I think it deserved to be compared as hopefully my feed back could make your movie grow better :).

Firstly, I'd say the acting was really good especially Moe who seems to create such a well done acting, as I observe he is very into the character "Filmmaker". And the antagonist (I forgot his name lol, who had sex scene few times) also act very good in the movie.

here's the critic part from me, I would say the main weakness in this movie is the camera shots and design. Many camera shots seems have an odd camera filter which is completely black and white that does not fit the scene. I understand it's at night, I think it would be better to leave it natural color or more contrast so that the viewer can have a clearer view about the character. Some also too orangy, I think the camera filter is too strong. Some shot need a little more focus.

Another thing is the sound effect, as I can sense some fighting scene has a bit of exaggeration in the sound effect such as when some of the actors was punching kicking, few actors seems hitting not that hard yet the sound effect seems to hit extremely hard which creates a little bit out of sync.

Also about the scene to scene cuts, some scenes seems to have an awkward cut from scene to another scene. (it's hard to say, but basically the camera position, angle, sometimes it feels like it's disconnected which makes me feel a little awkward)

the first part of the introduction to the cast need more art, would be better if you ask someone from your class to have a good design of text art as it's reminds me of the 90s movies.

about the plot, I was quite confuse at the beginning of the story, the story keep being back and forth from the film maker, the antagonist, the police, and some other people, it's kind of scattered everywhere. I start to get it a little bit after being revealed slowly at the back of the show, I (personally) find this movie is a little too long to watch, I prefer to keep the audience focus on the main character filmmaker and let the filmmaker slowly reveal everything one by one than getting all the antagonist, police and other members being revealed than telling from one character than jump to another character.

My most enjoyable part is watching Mr Wadge acting on the screen, it's funny to see your math teacher acting, and he is actually pretty good! Lol.

Anyway, good work everyone, good luck on your next movies :) !!

An Ambitious attempt for a feature length with a $0 budget

[angeloisidorou · 19 December 2015]

To properly judge the film, i always keep its budget in the back of my mind, and with consideration of the film vs it's budget, i would say "Far Out" is a good film. I personally have a connection to the film since i was a part of the archetype but i really tried to view the film from a disconnected viewpoint, it has many valuable themes, along with some good performances and it also has a few faults that are surely present with a low budget indie like this.

I was looking for aspects that made the film look like, and feel like a film, and i found, and lost those aspects in various different avenues.

Thematically, it's very good. It uses Cinephilia as a tool to sail us through various different conflicts our protagonist must overcome. It also alludes greatly to many other classic films, which in many ways, accentuates Karim's odyssey to find his own "style". After all, Tarantino himself borrowed a few devices from films of his youth era.

Acting was very eclectic. Moe Golkar was an above average performance in the anomaly role of "the filmmaker". James Sirois captured the megalomania that the story demanded. Lamont James Brown, although a small role, was very enjoyable to watch. Most of the smaller performances was very well done, although the only two females in the film were heavily objectified, likely due to writing. Perhaps Mr. Karim has been watching an abundance of crime action flicks and not enough Rom-Com's? who am i to say...

Writing seemed very examined, i could tell in certain situations that Karim revisited scenes and connected them properly, such as Goldbergs rant about our fear to admit someone is simple "dead" rather than "Passed away". Overall the writing seemed good, although it was a bit rushed and out of hand in the third act, or at least this films version of the third act

Directing seemed good as well, very eclectic with his other credits. It all seems like a fairly large project for Karim to helm on his own so it would only be proper to give him credit.

Cinematography, i had a few problems with, the film at times felt a bit claustrophobic, and some fight scenes with the exception of the heist, seemed very shaky

Editing is perhaps my main criticism, it seemed like some scenes could be trimmed, or completely cut, and i would have loved if the Persian commercial was used more as a transitional device.

Overall, it would only feel right to give this film a 8/10, it would obviously be much higher if it had a budget, and thus i would judge it accordingly, but since it doesn't, i am obligated to judge it comparatively to other films within the same range of budget, in which case, its rather high on the list of "best $0 movie that isn't found footage", and if anything it is a testament that Karim managed at the age of 19 to create a feature length movie that likely proves the obsolescence of film school, good job bij