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What makes people laugh out loud? What triggers that physical reaction? Is it joy?Relief? Surprise?

Whatever it is, The Birdwatcher has it.

I didn’t want to like this film, and I’m still not sure I do. There’s something a little bit uneasy about it, something in the strange muted colours, awkward cut out characters and incessant crowing that makes you recoil. Looking through the watcher’s binoculars makes you feel both claustrophobic, responsible for what is happening, and queasy.

And yet somehow I couldn’t stop watching. I was moved, I was annoyed, I winced, and, yes, in spite of myself, I laughed out loud. Several times. While cringing. More than the plot, it was graduating student Ross Phillips‘ directorial skills which surprised me. There are odd touches of brilliance, in the movement of the worm as he’s pulled between two birds, or the careful timing of the crows going about their ghastly business. ‘Don’t assume you know what you’re watching’, he seems to whisper. I will listen.

The Birdwatcher was one of our fist submissions to the Toon Boom competition. Keep ‘em coming!