Validation (2007)

The Worst Film Ever

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

A simple film who could be defined as motivational. in fact, it is more. a pledge for small gestures. delicate /brave words. about the change using simple tools. about honesty. and about the importance of the other. nothing complicated. but usefull. for the message. for the tears of the end. for the basic lesson about ordinary things - briks of every day reality. a nice film. and that is all.

I have read nearly all what the former reviewers said. I agree with much of it. What can I add?First, I'd like to say that there is a lot of symbolism in this movie. The producer meant every thing he did in it. Nothing is done randomly. For example the choice of black and white (no colours) states clearly that our lives can shift within these two colours Black (sadness) and white (smile-happiness). They have to exist together. they fight each other. We are the ones to choose which side to take. This is the old philosophical debate of good and evil.Second, I think that the movie tells us that what ever our social class, our financial situation or where ever we are we can either influence others positively or negatively. We have seen the cheerful park attendant turn many sad people into happy one, from simple citizens to countries'presidents and also the opposite: we have seen the same person turn the same people from happiness to sadness because that is what he was living at that moment.H just communicated it. So Every one counts in this world.Thirdly, He made happy many people but he didn't succeed to make the photographer smile. What ever he did. However, she smiled at him at the end and he didn't even know how she did it. This episode teaches us no to give up but continue our fight because thing change in a way or in an other.To conclude, as I am a teacher of English language, I will try to use this video in classroom, and I hope it will bring a lot of my student to this web site and post their reviews.

One of the most beautiful short movies I've seen. How a smile lights up the world is portrayed here in just 15 mins. I just enjoyed T J Thyne's acting. And who wouldn't love to get themselves validated by such characters in real life too? Although initially, you would think that the person is a psycho, hehe...Didn't mind the black & white camera-work throughout, it's done very well, Of course the direction is impressive too. Maybe I noticed some minor flaws in performances of the other actors but that's not a deal at all.The ending scenes almost wet my eyes when he realises why Victoria(good show by Vicki Davis) finally smiles at him. And this is why I believe that the good you do somehow, one day or the other, comes back & showers on you bountifully.

I had the pleasure of seeing this gem at the Phoenix Film Festival and I have to say that there are probably less then 1% of all short films made have the ability to make the audience well up with tears of happiness. That is precisely what this film did to me. Not only that. Whenever I tell someone about it I get the sense of welling up again just from re-telling it to them.T.J. Thyne is perfectly cast as Hugh Newman, the uber-naive parking booth guy who works at the end of a darkly lit hallway and validates customers parking tickets while validating their lives at the same time. Just like any protagonist in a movie, he hits his roadblock and loses his mojo for a while but soon finds himself again, after he finds life taking him in another direction and gets back on the trail of making people's lives better. He finds out in the end that the good deeds had been doing for people in the past, that he thought were not changing anything or anybody, actually changed the lives of even the most hardened hearts and in turn find him the complete happiness that he had been searching for the whole time.Kurt Kuenne did an AMAZING job with this film, period. From the finger-snappy acapella soundtrack to the directing, editing and cinematography; all of it is perfectly fit into this beautiful story. I only wish I could buy this movie on DVD. I've told so many people about it and wish I could show them! Hopefully soon!