Short film review archive

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O — 56 results

• The Offer (2017)

  Review preview for The Offer

  The Offer doesn't waste any time or attempt to spare viewers' sensibilities.

  Seven strangers are invited to a house expecting to be offered a large inheritance, but instead they find themselves trapped in a deadly game to the death.
• Off-White Tulips (2013)

  Review preview for Off-White Tulips

  Thought-provoking throughout.

  Complex storytelling inspired by James Baldwin's adventures in Istanbul.
• Off The Beaten Track (2004)

  Review preview for Off The Beaten Track

  Bursting with energy and ideas.

  A cyclist makes a fantasy journey.
• Oh Jackie (2012)

  Review preview for Oh Jackie

  With all the slap and grease-paint it's between pan-cake and pandaemonium.

  A music video musing on stage fright.
• Oktapodi (2007)

  Review preview for Oktapodi

  Performances are so good that you could easily watch it with the sound down and still adore every bit of its squishy heroes adventures.

  Octopi in love!
• Old Fangs (2009)

  Review preview for Old Fangs

  While there's good technique on display it's not as captivating as animation can be.

  A young wolf whose mother has left gets his friends to support him in confronting his absent father.
• The Old Fools (2003)

  Review preview for The Old Fools

  The skill of the animators is never less than imaginative.

  Age, old age, the last bastion of denial, exposed by Philip Larkin
• Once Upon A Time (2013)

  Review preview for Once Upon A Time

  It's a nice idea but, at four minutes, this film is just a little too long to sustain itself with one joke and not much else.

  A children's television presenter is about to crack.
• One (2006)

  Review preview for One

  Day’s animation is slick and engaging.

  Animated look at the world and beyond.
• The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island (2006)

  Review preview for The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island

  Twenty four minutes is a long time to stretch a single joke.

  A millionaire buys his very own one man concert. Winner of the UK Short Film Award at EIFF 2007.
• One Cold Night (2006)

  Review preview for One Cold Night

  There is no lack of imagination here, although some of the scripting sags a little and is not quite as amusing as it possibly thinks it is.

  A semi-naked man explains his predicament.
• One Foot In Reality (2016)

  Review preview for One Foot In Reality

  A bold take on a subject it's still all too easy to obfuscate.

  A woman discusses the impact of child abuse on her mental health in later life.
• One Giant Leap: My Culture (2003)

  A rap video with snazzy visuals, an escape-to-the-stars sub theme and strong vibes about roots.
• On The Coast (2010)

  Review preview for On The Coast

  The film-makers have a good eye for detail.

  Summer at the seaside in the Turkish village of Erikli.
• On The Receiving End (2007)

  Review preview for On The Receiving End

  On The Receiving End does a good job of getting its message across in such a way that it cannot be accused of emotional manipulation.

  Journalists from around the world recount their experiences of persecution and of seeking asylum in the UK.
• On The Threshold (2013)

  Review preview for On The Threshold

  Unflinching in its observation, compelling in its detail.

  A devoted young woman does everything for her family.
• Oasis (2022)

  Review preview for Oasis

  In a film which is primarily observational and incorporates just the briefest snippets of interview, the coming change goes unspoken, but both boys are aware of it.

  At the dawn of their teenage years, Raphaël and Rémi are twins who see their fraternal attachment crumble while one of them, suffering from an increasingly marked disability, remains a prisoner of childhood.
• Obair Là (2011)

  Review preview for Obair Là

  A brief and breezy film.

  An office worker endures another mundane day behind the desk until a co-worker gives him a challenge.
• OBEX (2025)

  Review preview for OBEX

  If you’re looking for a witty and heartfelt story with characters you can care about, you may find yourself falling head over heels.

  Conor Marsh lives a secluded life with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing OBEX, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of OBEX to bring her home.
• The Occupant Of The Room (2025)

  Review preview for The Occupant Of The Room

  With fantastic sound design and fierce strings, Janisse does a fine job of establishing the atmosphere.

  A schoolteacher's late-night arrival at a hotel in the Alps without a reservation leaves him with no option but to accept the room of a missing hotel guest - leading to a sleepless night full of strange and uncanny occurrences
• Occupy Cannes (2025)

  Review preview for Occupy Cannes

  Cannes glitters, but the celebrated parts of it are always just out of reach – a red carpet stretched out on the other side of a busy road, celebrities ascending famous steps behind a horde of undead.

  Lloyd Kaufman and The Troma Team go on what could be their final trip to the Cannes Film Festival.
• The Ocean Duck (2022)

  Review preview for The Ocean Duck

  A feast for the eyes.

  A granddaughter visits her ailing grandma in a hospital during a flood, bringing back fond memories of the past - spilling over into fantastical visions in the present - as an ancient tale comes to life.
• Odessa (2026)

  Review preview for Odessa

  Director Harald Swinkels steers the film with consummate skill, every scene telling its own layered story.

  In the wake of World War Two, a devoted father guides his fleeing family across the Dolomites. He is gentle with his son, and running for a reason.
• Oedipus (2005)

  Review preview for Oedipus

  Those who don't mind a bit of sex with their punchlines will be well-served.

  Complex tale of lust with a poetic thrust.
• Old Guys In Bed (2025)

  Review preview for Old Guys In Bed

  The sense of the temporary nature of things is everywhere.

  A gay film historian, new to online dating, enlists his teenage niece to help him navigate the uncharted waters of the digital world, in pursuit of the 70-year-old man of his dreams.
• The Old Woman Who Hid Her Fear Under The Stairs (2016)

  Review preview for The Old Woman Who Hid Her Fear Under The Stairs

  Sara Kestelman takes a simply drawn character and gives her depth and complexity.

  An old woman finds a way to remove her fear, but can the good times last?
• The Ollaparo (2011)

  Review preview for The Ollaparo

  There are some tremendous bits of effects work, but the olláparo is mostly contrived of suggestion.

  Two Galician villagers use ancient rituals to challenge the will of a monster.
• The Once And Future Smash/End Zone 2 (2022)

  Review preview for The Once And Future Smash/End Zone 2

  Gets some of its pastiche spot on, but runs short of ideas well before the end.

  A mockumentary about a fictional Seventies slasher film, accompanied by the fake film itself.
• Once Upon A Studio (2023)

  Review preview for Once Upon A Studio

  It’s an eight minute advertisement.

  Disney characters come together to take a photo for the studio's 100th anniversary celebration.
• One Hundred Steps (2021)

  Review preview for One Hundred Steps

  There are layers of colonial consequence to these spaces, their gardens dominated by stepped approaches and the borrowed architecture of imagined pasts.

  The eighth audio-visual collaboration of Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca references the work of Bob Quinn, Irish filmmaker.
• One Last Night (2015)

  Review preview for One Last Night

  Simply but effectively shot, with impressive low-light work for a beginner, the film itself combines the personal and the political very effectively.

  Two women are enjoying their last night out in Tel Aviv before one of them leaves for Berlin, but when they are arrested, one of them is faced with a difficult decision.
• The One Note Man (2023)

  Review preview for The One Note Man

  The production design and colour work are excellent here, bringing the musician’s carefully ordered world to life.

  A musical man lives a careful life. Each day is like the next, just how he likes it. One day, however, misfortune and fate collide, breaking his routine and rocking his world forever.
• One Small Step (2018)

  Review preview for One Small Step

  Simple yet charming animation, conceived with an eye for detail, rounds out the characters and helps us get to know them intimately even in the absence of spoken dialogue.

  A cobbler's daughter dreams of going to the moon.
• One Thousand Pictures: RFK's Last Journey (2009)

  Review preview for One Thousand Pictures: RFK's Last Journey

  Tremendous.

  Documentary on the journey of Robert Kennedy's funeral train.
• The Only Girl In The Orchestra (2023)

  Review preview for The Only Girl In The Orchestra

  Snippets of their conversations build together to let us see a real person, at odds with the tradition of legend-building.

  A documentary about trailblazing musician Orin O'Brien and the double bass she plays.
• On The Ice (2008)

  Review preview for On The Ice

  Sikumi is certainly stark, and yet there is room even in this cold, austere backdrop for the warmth of the human spirit.

  An Inuit hunter inadvertantly witnesses a murder.
• Operation Bogeyman (2025)

  Review preview for Operation Bogeyman

  Aeppli’s work brings scams, superstition, abuses of power, real world horrors and the magic of storytelling together in one heady brew.

  An essay film that navigates the intersections of folklore, horror, and psychological warfare during the Troubles and encompasses a bizarre propaganda operation in which the British army staged fake black magic rituals to smear the IRA as ‘Satanists’.
• Orchestrator Of Storms (2022)

  Review preview for Orchestrator Of Storms

  Though there is a melancholy aspect to it, Orchestrator Of Storms explores who Rollin was as a person with warmth and wit, and shares his enthusiasm for, as it is phrased here, ‘beauty in the grotesque and the morose and the opulent.’

  A documentary portrait of filmmaker Jean Rollin.
• The Original (2019)

  Review preview for The Original

  Michelle Garza Cervera's hard-hitting film combines an elegant sense of aesthetics with emotional intelligence and insight.

  A couple's love is tested by illness and the treatment that follows it.
• Oscurana (2025)

  Review preview for Oscurana

  Mora draws us into the emotional space of those on the move.

  Consideration of the journey taken by migrants on foot across the US border.
• The Other (2021)

  Review preview for The Other

  The liberties taken with the work of a playwright famed for his contemporary analysis of the morays of fin-de-siecle Vienna are a triumph.

  A man becomes suspicious of his wife's faithfulness, more so when he sees another at her graveside.
• The Other Woman (2013)

  Review preview for The Other Woman

  A joyous film.

  A woman who is initially unhappy about her husband taking a second wife discovers that the arrangement has unexpected benefits.
• Ouch! (2024)

  Review preview for Ouch!

  Kornfeld has a strong sense for the rhythms of this kind of comedy, and deploys them to great effect.

  A disabled man's chronic pain is explored through horror movie tropes that the people around him can't see.
• Our Males And Females (2022)

  Review preview for Our Males And Females

  The performances are delicate and precise.

  A father and mother are faced with the painful task of washing and shrouding their deceased transgender daughter.
• Our Planet, The People, My Blood (2026)

  Review preview for Our Planet, The People, My Blood

  With a small budget, Everitt-Lock couldn’t go everywhere that bombs were tested, but he takes in an impressive sample of affected populations.

  A documentary about the lasting effects of nuclear tests on nearby people and their descendents.
• Our Uniform (2023)

  Review preview for Our Uniform

  It’s a lively, innovative technique which directly connects style and subject and also facilitates a playful wit.

  An Iranian girl unfolds her school memories on the wrinkles and fabrics of her old uniform.
• Out Of Joint (2003)

  Review preview for Out Of Joint

  There is something basic, acute and very clever about this fractuous statement on the illusion of marital harmony.

  A dysfunctional marriage within the confines of animated disharmony.
• The Opera Singer (2016)

  Review preview for The Opera Singer

  A passionate little film.

  A woman is haunted by unfulfilled dreams.
• Orange Bombs (2008)

  Review preview for Orange Bombs

  Neisi’s film gives you a sense of the fact that these mini weapons of destruction are absolutely everywhere - even hanging from the trees.

  Husband and wife orange farmers deal with cluster bombs in the aftermath of the 33-day War Israel waged against Hezbollah.
• Origin Of The World (2002)

  Review preview for Origin Of The World

  The papier mache models would be rejected at a Blue Peter open day and the stop/start animation is crude.

  The story of Genesis (some of it) as told with paper mache, shower curtains and half naked actors.