Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The 56 Year Old Boy" is a British short film from 2 years ago that runs slightly under 15 minutes. Writer, director and male lead actor is Bertie Gilbert, who was only 17 I think when he made this pretty short movie. Taking his age into account, it is a decent achievement. Taking it not into account it is fairly forgettable. I did not find it convincing in terms of the two core areas: acting and directing. Gilbert should have chosen somebody other than himself to play the part, but then again his female co-lead wasn't any better. I saw the filmmaker's age early on and wondered if he could maybe be a British Dolan as he was(is) still so young, but this one did not leave me impressed at all. It has a strange plot that is pretty baity, but not elaborated on properly. I cannot recommend "The 56 Year Old Boy". Thumbs down and I hope Gilbert can step up his game in the coming years. It's all about quality, not quantity.
