ABE (2013)

Sadly Over-hyped

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Abe...The psychotic robot...searching for someone to love him. Ha ha ha that is just so awesome! God... I wish that Rob McLellan will turn this into an actual Hollywood blockbuster or something because GOD KNOWS!!! it has the potential to be so. God... This short film is about to BURST of potential. This must be continued! Damn good short film. Really entertaining, deep and profound message. There's this profound need and desire for love and if not gotten then Abe here will go to incredible lengths to try anyway... Really symbolic, incredible psychological, disturbing and even though Abe is a bit of a fruitcake we can't help but to love him and feel for him for being so lonely in the world.Highly recommendable guys. This is good stuff. Once again, I hope to god McLellan will turn this into a longer film!

Did someone mention this feels like a pitch rather than a short film in its own right ? Just checking with both the IMDb and The Short Of The Week website it just so happens to turn out that writer/director Rob McLellan has been given the go ahead by MGM to turn this in to a feature length film . If we're being cynical then it's easy to state that this was indeed the agenda behind ABE the short film . Not to be entirely cynical it should be pointed out that a lot of short films use the exact same technique and when it's obvious like the Edward Snowdon inspired short VERAX boy oh boy it is too painfully obvious for words and if someone was standing at a street corner holding a begging bowl with a sign round their neck saying " Give me some money to make a feature film guv . I haven't eaten for three days " it wouldn't be any more cynical In its favour it does in grammar terms have a present continuous feel . By that I mean the actions Abe has started happened before the story started and are still continuing . Some suspension of disbelief might be needed as to why someone felt the need to build a robot with emotions and the fact a robot walking around kidnapping or at the very least stalking women might lead to police attention , but I guess if recent cases are to go by the police can't investigate any sort of sexual crime unless it's thirty years old . Abe does give away enough exposition to make the audience clearly understand his motives and they are believable to an extent . What ABE holds as a winning hand is the emotionless but effective vocal talents of Sam Hoare . Yeah a flat computer voice wreaking havoc while speaking calmly has been done many times before most famously in 2001 but here it works very well . I somehow doubt if the feature length version of ABE will be a massive success but here's hoping it doesn't pander to Hollywood by having lots of explosions and CGI

British director Rob McLellan is probably one of the most prolific workers in his branch these days. "Abe" is already the 8th short-film he shot in the last 4 years and probably his most known work to this day. I wonder if we will soon see a feature film from him, possibly starring Abe or having him in a cameo. I'm not too sure I'd go see it, however, as this eight-and-a-half-minute short film didn't particularly impress me.We see a woman waking up gagged and tied to a chair. Moments later, her kidnapper enters the scene. It's Abe, the robot. From this moment on, until nearly towards the end he holds a monologue about inner motivations, love and rejection. I guess the point of this film is to show us how all these experiences could also happen to human beings, but I really wasn't convinced. At one point, when he asks his victim: "Do I have a soul?" and the camera switches to the victim, it was almost unintentionally hilarious like she must have asked herself "WTF is going on here? This can't be real." Anyway, I didn't feel any sympathy for the robot and this is probably one of the keys why I couldn't really enjoy this one that much. The execution was okay, but the story simply wasn't compelling enough. So for now, I'd say give this one a pass.

This is a very beautiful looking short film. I adore the way Abe draws me in with his innocent and welcoming exterior whilst offering such a misunderstood and tortured interior.For A, a short film, and B, a robot, this protagonist really does provide a good depth within such a short space of time. I would genuinely like to see more of him since there clearly is a past leading up to the situation we witness here.The character of Abe does well in offering a thought-provoking premise. It contains an honest and upsetting realization concerning human existence.I consider it difficult for a film to get an audience to side with murderous and unforgiving characters, but with Abe, I see reason, I see a tested tolerance, and most importantly, I see a story.