The Manual (Short 2017)

The Manual: Directed by Wil Magness. With Lauren Emery, J.J. Johnston. In a dystopian future, the last human is raised by a machine. He struggles with the loneliness of no human interaction and questions the teachings of a mysterious religious ‘Manual’ which the machine claims is holy.

“Overall I would say this is a great short movie and worth 30 minutes of your time. The cinematography is fantastic coming from such a small team and budget, there are beautiful compositions throughout and they are tied together by a great soundtrack. The movie does a solid job of creating a post apocalyptic world – Itu0026#39;s not overdone or cheesy. It feels peaceful but lonely.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are some flaws – The flow of the film is sometimes choppy between cuts, and the robot companion didnu0026#39;t make me feel invested or otherwise emotionally drawn in. J.J. Johnston did a solid job as the lead and had some great moments, although again, I didnu0026#39;t get a chance to become particularly invested in his character. The same goes for the story; itu0026#39;s very intriguing, but I never felt truly drawn in to it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWill Magness has real potential as filmmaker and I very much hope this is the start of more to come. Although the movie didnu0026#39;t quite slot together perfectly, it still felt well refined and polished. Itu0026#39;s not perfect but there is plenty of potential, I definitely want to see more of what Will can do.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGive this short a watch.”