I Love Sarah Jane (2008)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

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

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This short film is well known, doing very well in festivals and online – not at all hurt by the presence of Mia Wasikowska in the title role (who at the same time was being amazing in season 1 of HBO's In Treatment). The plot sees a handful of younger children and teens, who are alone in a zombie wasteland. Some of them are tormenting a zombie restrained outside, but for one of the boys his focus is on his crush for the older Sarah Jane.There is a nice idea here – or rather a series of nice ideas. The coming-of-age sort of element, with a delicate and shy crush on an older girl, playing out in such an aggressive environment; the plot development of the ending; the Lord of the Flies element of chaos and lack of restriction on those of an age who need restrictions the most. I wanted it to be stronger than it was because of all these things. Unfortunately it doesn't quite make the first half work as well as it needed to. The second half is stronger, with some brutal and heart- felt elements, but unfortunately these have the side- effect of making the first half feel disconnected from the rest – and the crush and the 'main' character suddenly seems less important and interesting.Wasikowska sells it, and stands out. The rest of the cast are not so convincing in themselves; although the special effects are much more convincing and engagingly done. There are good elements here, and it is worth seeing, but it doesn't totally make use of its good ideas, even if the ending is quite strong.

I Love Sarah Jane (2008)** 1/2 (out of 4) Nice short film from Australia about a small group of kids living in a post apocalyptic world where one of them wants to be with the lovely Sarah Jane. While his buddies stay outside torturing a zombie, he'd much rather be inside with her. There's not too much to this short but for what it is it remains mildly entertaining from start to finish. I liked the idea of having a group of kids being the last people on Earth and I think the film benefits from having a rather fun way of them picking on a zombie like we'd normally just see them picking on a dorky kid. The zombie is tied up and can't defend itself so we see them slapping him around and even taking a weed eater to its face. The movie is well directed and the kid performances aren't too bad. We get some mild gore for horror fans as well as a nasty kill.

This short accomplishes what mainstream Hollywood-- more often than not-- fails to do in 2 1/2 hrs. You have a solid grasp of every character in the film. You develop sympathy and disgust, you see what makes them tick. And everyone of them is genuine. Maybe even the zombie. The kids are believable, and in fifteen minutes you have a full understanding of how complicated they are, and a genuine feel for their complications. To convey that in fifteen minutes of silly whimsy is truly a work of genius. It also provided a solid sense of place and the social circumstances surrounding what truly is a complete story. No mean feat. I loved it.

This film has done what so many short films and feature films fail to do. it's created a world of its own that has depth. it's created characters with believable actions and reactions. and it creates a free flowing story that progresses naturally through the film.i've read several reviews that complain about the amount of cussing that the kids do in the film. if this offends you, then you're probably out of your depth watching a genre film to begin with, and if you don't think this is realistic behaviour then you don't know kids (real kids). if you left a handful of kids to their own devices in a post apocalyptic world, what do you think they'd get up to? they'd torture zombies with whatever tools they can get their hands on. they'd swear. they'd drink beer. they'd do anything they wanted, particularly the things they'd been told never to do.i can't explain how impressed i was by this short film, and i sincerely hope it leads to great success and further features from the writers and director.